Which statement is true regarding the inheritance of classes?

The statement regarding the inheritance of classes that is true is that the inheritance tree describes the hierarchy between base and derived classes. In object-oriented programming, inheritance allows one class (the derived class) to inherit properties and behaviors (attributes and methods) from another class (the base class). This creates a parent-child relationship where the derived class can extend or modify the functionality of the base class. The inheritance tree visually represents this hierarchy, showing how classes relate to one another, which is crucial for understanding the structure of a program and how different classes interact.

The other statements present inaccuracies about inheritance. For instance, a derived class can access the attributes of its base classes directly, without limitations to just using getter methods. Additionally, a derived class is not required to define new attributes; it can inherit properties from a base class and only override methods or employ existing attributes as needed. Finally, the assertion that a derived class cannot inherit attributes from multiple base classes is also incorrect, as many programming languages, such as C++, support multiple inheritance, allowing a class to derive from more than one base class.