Developing complex software requires more than just churning out lines of code. As a software architect or developer involved in an industrial project, you must understand and be able to leverage critical software sub-disciplines such as architecture, analysis and design techniques, development process, visual modeling, and the underlying technology to be successful.

This book brings all these diverse elements together from the J2EE development perspective to provide a holistic approach for the reader. Specifically, this book tries to answer the following key questions:

· What is UML and how is it relevant to J2EE development?
· How do Java and UML relate to each other?
· What are the key concepts in software architecture?
· How does a software development process fit into the J2EE software development equation?
· How can analysis and design help you in arriving at a better J2EE application design?
· What are the key J2EE technologies, and how do they fit together?
· How can you leverage the UML for J2EE development?

Rather than reinvent the wheel, the approach taken in this book is that of bringing together known works such as Jim Conallen’s web modeling profile and the Sun Java Specification Request-26 for UML/EJB Mapping Specification.

To provide a practical illustration of the topics discussed, this book guides the readers through a sample J2EE application development project using the Rational Unified Process and the UML. A working implementation is provided. Suggestions for further enhancements are also listed to assist the readers in continuing their exploration of the UML and J2EE technologies.