Tools

UML modelling tools: We don't prescribe the use of any special UML drawing or modelling tool. I use, e.g., in most cases UMLet, which is an okay drawing tool for UML and runs on both Linux and Windows. On Windows platforms, a common choice is to use Visio. Also, in the last years, some recommended the use of Violet (again running under Linux and Windows alike).

• UMLet
  • Download UMLet from http://www.umlet.com
  • Installation instructions as stand alone application on Windows.
  • To use UMLet as standalone application on Linux, download and unpack the zip-file and then start the jar-file with java -jar umlet.jar.
• Violet
  • Download Violet from http://horstmann.com/violet/
  • To use Violet as standalone application on Linux, download the jar-file and start it with java -jar com.horstmann.violet-0.21.1.jar. On Windows, just double click on the com.horstmann.violet-0.21.1.jar file
• Visio is a commercial Microsoft program. If you have Visio installed on your computer, then you can use the Visio stencils for UML. And here are some tips of how to use them