Use Cases: Patterns and Blueprints

Foreword

In 1995, Eric Gamma et al. published their groundbreaking book in software: Design Patterns (Addison-Wesley), which introduced one of the most important concepts in software industry of today: design patterns. At that time, object-orientation design had been used for a couple of decades, and knowledge of what constituted a good object-oriented design had become evident and could be formalized and described in a book. Today, other books have added to the collection of good (and bad) design patterns.

My own work on use cases was first presented in 1986. At the beginning, their purpose was twofold: to be able to discuss system usages with business people, and to explain to designers how classes and components collaborate to provide the required ...