Semantic abstraction rules for class diagrams

Abstract

When dealing with object-oriented models like class and object diagrams, designers easily get overwhelmed by large numbers of model elements and their interdependencies. To deal with the complexities of large-scale software models, this paper presents rules and methods for automated abstraction. Our approach is tool supported and allows designers to periodically "zoom out" of a model to investigate and reason about its bigger picture. Our technique has also proven to be well-suited for consistency checking and reverse engineering.