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Flowchart

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  • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

    What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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    phannon86
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    Chalk up another for Visio

    He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man

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    • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

      What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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      Russ T
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      Richard Andrew x64 wrote:

      What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

      Either Visio or EDGE Diagrammer (from a company called Pacestar Software). Both work well enough; Visio has way more features but is expensive if you're not an MSDN subscriber; EDGE is cheaper and produces far smaller file sizes, but it only does flowcharts. We've been happy with both products.

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      • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

        What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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        cplas
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        I really like the open source DIA, updated recently http://live.gnome.org/Dia[^]

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        • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

          What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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          NormDroid
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          Headware it's free and easy to use.

          Software Kinetics (requires SL3 beta) - Moving software

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          • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

            What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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            Hans Dietrich
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            RFFlow - basic and inexpensive: http://www.rff.com/

            Best wishes, Hans


            [Hans Dietrich Software]

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            • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

              What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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              Stuart Dootson
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              I don't use flowcharts - I use UML sequence diagrams instead. We use ARTiSAN Studio[^] for SysML/UML modelling, which is pretty much the best UML tool I've used.

              Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

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              • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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                Adriaan Davel
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                Visio mostly, but be patient the learning curve is an interesting one... Once you've gotten used to (and have submitted) to Visio's quirks it works quite well (try to learn the work arounds a quick as possible). Most irritating thing about visio is finding the right stencil, and with the wrong stencil things go really bad (things are hidden and if you find them they behave weirdly on the wrong stencil) Used Enterprise Architect as well, very nice UML tool

                ____________________________________________________________ Be brave little warrior, be VERY brave

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                • C cplas

                  I really like the open source DIA, updated recently http://live.gnome.org/Dia[^]

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                  Henry Minute
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  Add 1 for DIA.

                  Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

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                  • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                    What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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                    Michael Haines
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    Why? Flow charts are pretty much only useful to the person that created them, and that's even suspect. The problem is keeping everything at the same level while still trying to keep it on the page - and without criss-crossing (nearly impossible). Discourage their use by anyone around you, and your life will be soooooo much better!

                    You are here - through no fault of mine!

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                    • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                      What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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                      urbane tiger
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      whiteboard

                      Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur.(Pliny)

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                      • C cplas

                        I really like the open source DIA, updated recently http://live.gnome.org/Dia[^]

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        Not pronounced 'dire', I hope?

                        Bob Emmett

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                        • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                          What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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                          Yusubov E
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          I also have used MS Visio product years ago. Flowcharts actually helps to see the bird view on the process that is going to be automated.

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                          • U urbane tiger

                            whiteboard

                            Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur.(Pliny)

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                            Netblue
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            +1 Whiteboard. Then digital camera pic. If I need to include it in my documentation, then I will redraw in Visio, but only for pieces that ABSOLUTELY NEED to be modeled to be understood. Flowcharts are useful in some scenarios, never for all.

                            Proudly drinking the finest Maryland craft beer. Visiting Maryland for business? First round is on me!

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                            • C cplas

                              I really like the open source DIA, updated recently http://live.gnome.org/Dia[^]

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                              Battlehammer
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              Thanks for the link, I'll give it a try. I used to use Visio at my last job but this place won't spend any money so I have to use (gulp) Paint. The worst tool for flow diagrams ever.

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                              • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                                What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

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                                dwieneke
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                The best flow charting tool I have used is AllClear."[^]"> You write a flow chart script and the tool figures out how to design and draw the flowchart. It usually manages not to do "crossovers" and will connect multipage charts. You can crank out flow charts in no time at all. Since you have the script that created the flow chart you can use it as a document for people who don't do flowcharts. It's not free, not cheap, but then nothing that is any good is. It can reverse engineer the script if the flow chart is modified.

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                                • _ _Damian S_

                                  Those cool little plastic stencil template thingies that you can draw the charts by hand with!!

                                  I don't have ADHD, I have ADOS... Attention Deficit oooh SHINY!! Booger Mobile Blog Booger Mobile - Official Camp Quality esCarpade Entrant Page

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                                  Owen37
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  _Damian S_ wrote:

                                  I don't have ADHD, I have ADOS... Attention Deficit oooh SHINY!!

                                  That's the FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER READ! ROFLMAO! Can I quote you? :laugh:

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                                  • N Netblue

                                    +1 Whiteboard. Then digital camera pic. If I need to include it in my documentation, then I will redraw in Visio, but only for pieces that ABSOLUTELY NEED to be modeled to be understood. Flowcharts are useful in some scenarios, never for all.

                                    Proudly drinking the finest Maryland craft beer. Visiting Maryland for business? First round is on me!

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                                    U Offline
                                    urbane tiger
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #27

                                    IMO the value of a flowchart lies mainly within the actual process of standing up & drawing it. My w/b prints so I sometimes pin a printout on the pin board behind my monitor to reference whilst I'm implementing it. The problem I have with things like Visio, is that they have to be kept in synch with the implementation. This is usually another post implementation make work task. Eventually the files will fall out of synch with the implementation anyway.

                                    Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur.(Pliny)

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                                    • M Michael Haines

                                      Why? Flow charts are pretty much only useful to the person that created them, and that's even suspect. The problem is keeping everything at the same level while still trying to keep it on the page - and without criss-crossing (nearly impossible). Discourage their use by anyone around you, and your life will be soooooo much better!

                                      You are here - through no fault of mine!

                                      D Offline
                                      D Offline
                                      david_f_knight
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      Sorry, but this just indicates that you don't know how to use flowcharts properly... and that your coding isn't structured. Properly structured code *never* has any difficulty being drawn without crossing lines (assuming competent drawing). Spaghetti code, not so much. Keeping everything at the same level requires discipline, but then so does writing good, bug-free, code. Trouble keeping a flowchart on one page indicates functions that are too large, that do too much. Divide and conquer. I don't use a flowcharting program because I have never found one that's specifically designed for structured code. It makes a big difference. I started to write one, but decided that the investment of my time was too great and abandoned it. If I thought the market for a good flowcharting program was significant I would have pursued it, but in my experience very few programmers use flowcharts and I thought that was too great a barrier to marketplace success. For me, a flowchart isn't a tool to document what's been coded (past tense), but to help design optimal code first, and additionally to make it easier to understand and debug. Consequently, the flowchart must be easily updatable as the code is debugged or otherwise modified. The various "flowcharting" programs I've seen are for generic drawings. Simply tossing in a few flowcharting shapes is worthless to me. A competent flowcharting program must have an underlying model of a structured program. In other words, you wouldn't use diamonds or rectangles and connecting line primitives, you would use if-then or do-while or switch constructs, for example. Their structure is implicit. Keeping lines from crossing is automatic and trivial. A superior flowcharting program will be able to parse a source code file and produce a flowchart from it. That makes it easy to keep documentation up to date. Unfortunately, I have never found any commercial program that does that. (I wrote one for myself, but that's another story.) A superior flowcharting program will also be able to generate source code from the flowchart. That also makes it easy to keep documentation in sync with program. A really superior flowcharting program will allow debugging a program from the flowchart rather than from the source code... such a program would allow never having to look at source code any more than programmers have to look at the assembly code produced by a compiler or the object code produced by an assembler now. With a flowcharting program like that (it would actually be an in

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                                      • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

                                        What flowhcarting programs do people here like to use?

                                        A Offline
                                        A Offline
                                        aquatarian
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #29

                                        Might want to check out http://creately.com/[^]

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                                        • U urbane tiger

                                          IMO the value of a flowchart lies mainly within the actual process of standing up & drawing it. My w/b prints so I sometimes pin a printout on the pin board behind my monitor to reference whilst I'm implementing it. The problem I have with things like Visio, is that they have to be kept in synch with the implementation. This is usually another post implementation make work task. Eventually the files will fall out of synch with the implementation anyway.

                                          Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur.(Pliny)

                                          N Offline
                                          N Offline
                                          Netblue
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #30

                                          Agreed, I enjoy thinking on my feet and stretching my legs out. I don't have a facny whiteboard (I wish) but mine does cover my entire wall.

                                          Proudly drinking the finest Maryland craft beer. Visiting Maryland for business? First round is on me!

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