I am trying to understand OOAD and UML. In this quest I came across some situations in which I felt if either of them are prerequisite for the other item. That is in some situations while reading OOAD i felt I should have prior knowledge of UML and at some situation vice-versa. Instead of keeping this confusion, I am seeking some inputs:
1) Should one first understand what OOAD is before exploring the `UML?
2) what is the relationship between OOAD and UML?
Any answers in simple words would be of great help in coming out of this confusing loop.
I would advise you to learn about proper OO before UML. It's more important to know how to do analysis and design properly than it is to know how to adhere to the UML syntax for expressing it. An analogy is that anyone can write a novel using correct syntax, but it will suck. It's hard to write well.
UML is one of many notations, but it happens to have been standardized by both the OMG and by ISO. I first learned from Rumbaugh's book on OMT, which I thought was a better notation, but it's been abandoned now because of the UML standard.