<chapter id="introduction"> <title >Introduction</title> <para >&umbrello; is a &UML; diagram tool that can support you in the software development process. Especially during the analysis and design phases of this process, &umbrello; will help you to get a high quality product. &UML; can also be used to document your software designs to help you and your fellow developers. </para> <para >Having a good model of your software is the best way to communicate with other developers working on the project and with your customers. A good model is extremely important for medium and big-size projects, but it is also very useful for small ones. Even if you are working on a small one man project you will benefit from a good model because it will give you an overview that will help you code things right the first time. </para> <para >&UML; is the diagramming language used to describing such models. You can represent your ideas in &UML; using different types of diagrams. &umbrello; 1.2 supports the following types: </para> <itemizedlist> <listitem ><para >Class Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Sequence Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Collaboration Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Use Case Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >State Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Activity Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Component Diagram</para ></listitem> <listitem ><para >Deployment Diagram</para ></listitem> </itemizedlist> <para >More information about &UML; can be found at the website of <ulink url="http://www.omg.org" ><acronym >OMG</acronym >, http://www.omg.org</ulink > who create the &UML; standard. </para> <para >We hope you enjoy &umbrello; and that it helps you create high quality software. &umbrello; is Free Software and available at no cost, the only thing we ask from you is to report any bugs, problems, or suggestions to the &umbrello; developers at <email >uml-devel@lists.sourceforge.net</email > or <ulink url="http://bugs.kde.org" >http://bugs.kde.org</ulink >. </para> </chapter>
