Chapter 3. Class Diagrams

Class Diagrams

UML class diagrams allow us to denote the static contents of — and the relationships between — classes. In a class diagram we can show the member variables, and member functions of a class. We can also show whether one class inherits from another, or whether it holds a reference to another. In short, we can depict all the source code dependencies between classes.

This can be valuable. It can be much easier to evaluate the dependency structure of a system from a diagram than from source code. Diagrams make certain dependency structures visible. We can see dependency cycles, and determine how best to break them. We can see ...

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