This book is about developing Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications with the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and the Unified Modeling Language (UML). There are a number of books describing the J2EE platform and its associated technologies. There are also books about software development processes and about RUP, in particular. However, we could not find a book that described and exemplified how to use a subset of RUP that contains only the most relevant parts of an otherwise large and comprehensive process, to build J2EE applications. The book bridges this gap between the RUP and J2EE technologies.

A world that combines J2EE, RUP and UML is complex. This world requires a good map if you are to successfully navigate your way through it. This book provides such a map both metaphorically and literally. It is metaphorical because the very objective of the book is to provide a description of a “safe path” through the J2EE application development activities. It is also literal because we define a “J2EE Developer Roadmap,” which is a process map, to guide us. We describe the content of the book in more detail in Chapter 1, Introduction.

While writing the book we kept three audiences in mind. The first audience is software architects, designers and developers familiar with the J2EE platform and its technologies, wanting to understand how to apply them in the context of a software development process. The second audience is development team members familiar with RUP, looking for help in applying the process to J2EE development. The third audience is software professionals who are neither familiar with J2EE nor with RUP, and are looking for an example of how to use RUP in the development of a J2EE application.

The book is roughly divided into two parts. The first part, Chapters 2–5, summarizes the J2EE technologies, introduces RUP and the J2EE Developer Roadmap, and briefly describes our sample application. The rest of the book is what we refer to as the “process chapters” and contains a guided tour through a J2EE application development project.

We structured the process chapters to make them easy to read “at a glance,” and to make it easy to refer to specific topics of interest. Each process chapter is organized primarily by activities. We provide diagrams that indicate the overall flow between the activities and the key artifacts that are consumed and produced by the activities. For each activity, we provide an overview table that summarizes the purpose of the activity, its input and output artifacts, and a summary of the steps performed within the activity. Following the table, we then describe the details of each of these steps, using the sample application.

In the process chapters, we use only one simple editing convention: we emphasize all references to process elements such as activities, steps, and artifacts.

We would first like to thank Rational Software Corporation, who has allowed us to incorporate various aspects of Rational's intellectual property in this book (specifically, the elements of the Rational Unified Process). We would also like to express our thanks to the founders and employees of Rational for building a company whose mission, core values, and culture encourage the writing of books such as this.

A special thanks goes to our team of reviewers. The breadth and depth of their collective experience has helped us immensely in ensuring that this book provides the right focus and, more importantly, is of enduring value. We would like to thank Kevin Benner, Grady Booch, John Cheesman, Jim Conallen, John Crupi, Kevin Kelly, Philippe Kruchten, Boris Lublinsky, Bruce MacIsaac, Jim Ning, Davyd Norris, Oliver Sims, Dave West, and Andy Winskill.

Grady, by the way, is also responsible for sowing the seed from which this book has grown. Should Grady ever see a presentation of yours and suggest you “write a book,” then know that he's serious. Grady—thanks for the support and encouragement from start to finish.

This book has benefited from the experiences of, and support given by, customers, Rational partners, colleagues, and peers alike. In this respect, we would like to thank Alan Brown, Christina Cooper-Bland, Ian Forsythe, Manjinder Gahir, Bob Houston, Russell Norlund, Alan Perkins, and Jim Thario.

We would also like to thank everyone at Addison-Wesley involved in the production of this book. In particular, we would like to thank our editor, Paul Becker, for his guidance and advice.

Finally, and most importantly, we would like to thank our families. Without their weekends and their evenings, this book would simply not exist.

To my wife Karen and our children, Daniel, Thomas, and Christopher, for your constant support and understanding. I would like to dedicate this book to my mother Nancy and my father Bob. —PE

To my husband Bob, a respected colleague and friend, for his unwavering support and encouragement; and to our children, Katherine and Ryan, whose enthusiasm and zest for life inspire me every day. —KH

I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Jola and my children Tommy and Natasza. Thank you for your understanding and support. —WK