2.3. Benefits

At this point, we should have a much clearer understanding of what the UML is and what it is not. We've also probably begun to formulate our own theories as to why we would want to model, and what some of the benefits of doing so are. In this section, we discuss the obvious, and the not-so-obvious, benefits of the UML.

Modeling as an Activity

While we often discuss modeling as if it were an activity, we must keep in mind that we shouldn't treat modeling as a formal stage in the software development lifecycle. Nor should we be led to believe at any point in time that creating a model adds value to our system. The only value that can be added to our system comes in the form of source code that is error free and functionally correct. ...

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