Chapter 19. Class Diagrams

Angela Brooks

UML class diagrams allow us to denote the static contents ofand the relationships betweenclasses. 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 when abstract classes depend on concrete classes and can determine a strategy for rerouting such dependencies.