Asciiflow.
Ask HN: What do you use for diagramming in software engineering?
51–55 of 55 posts
Re: Ask HN: What do you use for diagramming in software engineering?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I love Vexlio! I use the Windows version whenever I'm doing diagramming on Windows. As somebody who predominantly uses Linux, I was wondering if you have Linux support on your roadmap? I'm rarely actually in a situation where I could use Vexlio on OSX or Windows, but of you had Linux support I would literally be using it daily (and I'm sure I'm not the only one). I used to use it in Wine, but it took a lot of finicki…
Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I should experiment with Wine to see if any of the finicky behavior is something I can fix on the Vexlio side. There has been a lot of interest in a native Linux version, and it is on the longer-term roadmap. Unfortunately it is a fairly significant undertaking, so it will most likely be a while.
Thank you for the response :)
When I get some spare time I can send you the details on what I had to do to get it (barely) working.
Re: Ask HN: What do you use for diagramming in software engineering?
#53I have been using DOT diagrams a bit recently - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_(graph_description_languag... - I like it because I can put into source control too
PlantUML is a cool tool that will generate a lot of the types of diagrams programmers and system designers might like to make and see. Plain text descriptions of the diagrams turned into images. Some of them you could do directly in DOT syntax, but not all or not as easily. http://plantuml.com (I do, however, seriously dislike how many ads are on the site for this thing)
Good tool that is often enough. Text-based means version control. I'm using it via a plugin in Visual Studio Code. Very lightweight solution.
Re: Ask HN: What do you use for diagramming in software engineering?
#54lucidchart.com - been using for ~5 years now, really great s/w. And no: I'm not a paid sales rep, but a happy customer.
Re: Ask HN: What do you use for diagramming in software engineering?
#55Softagram was mentioned once here as a solution to keep your diagrams up-to-date automatically. I happen to know it quite well as I am their lead developer ( --> take my words with a grain of salt ;).
It's surprising though how many are still bound to the idea that if you want diagrams for documentation, you'd better get a good drawing tool and draw them yourself. While manual drawing might give more flexibility, the burden of creating and maintaining those diagrams is often too much in the agile projects we work with. I suggest you all take a test drive on Softagram. Just go to softagram.com, register for a free trial, add your git repo and off you go. I'd be delighted to hear if you like it or not.