The Universal Modelling Language (UML) is a flexible and comprehensive way to design and diagram any software development project. Building Web Applications with UML covers the Web Application Extension (WAE) for UML and includes enough background information about Web applications to ease traditional software analysts and designers into the world of the Web.

Author Jim Conallen divides the text into two logical parts, the first being dedicated to explaining the various Web application architectures out there and the second to the process of modelling such systems with UML. The first chapter concisely explains the basics of the standard elements of the Web such as HTML, HTTP, forms, frames, and session management. Subsequent chapters provide an excellent overview to server-side and client-side functionality, delving into key technologies such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Java applets, and XML.

The remainder of the book is devoted to the process of defining the requirements, architecture and design elements of Web applications using UML. The reader will learn about Use Cases, apply analysis and represent Web applications with the distinctive graphical elements of UML. A sample ASP application is used to illustrate the concepts. This material may be a level of abstraction above the working coder but is excellent for project managers and system architects. --Stephen W Plain, Amazon.com

Topics covered: Browser/Server interactions, Web page design elements, session management, dynamic client and server languages, Web security, model design, use cases, requirement specifications, analysis, sequence diagrams and class diagrams.