
54 ◾ Software Engineering: The Current Practice
figure illustrates a general rule that UML class diagrams are allowed to miss some
information: Such a diagram is not incorrect; it is only more abstract. However, for
many tasks, the missing information is of crucial importance, and the practice of
ignoring the composite-component adornments is not recommended.
UML class diagrams have an advantage in that both programmers and the users
easily understand them, and they can serve as a means of communication between
these two stakeholder groups. ey are widely used and serve as a default modeling
tool whenever there is a need to capture the stat