Ask HN: Is UML still relevant today?

Post by collyw » Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 12:29 PM UTC

sshine wrote: post #47

No. TL;DR: Drawing is useful, UML is not. For database designs, textual schemas, E/R diagrams or plain SQL are sufficient. I've drawn plenty of state diagrams without crediting UML handbooks. E/R diagrams can double as "class diagrams" in the sense that you don't need all the complexity of properties and methods in a diagram to convey which classes exist and how they're related. People who think that drawing bubbles…

Post by joshdance » Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 2:42 PM UTC

Post by _random_ » Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 6:39 PM UTC

vorg wrote: post #56

zenbowman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sequence diagrams are extremely useful. The only problem with UML is that it was used as a method of intellectual masturbation by people who love massive class hierarchies. There's a lot of good stuff in UML, the problem is that the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code. There are the same guys who spent year…

> the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code Sounds like the same people who became Agile consultants in the early 2000's. Perhaps they realized activity and sequence diagrams can get fairly complicated soon enough, so they looked for a bandwagon requiring no technical chops whatever.

Post by foxwoods » Tue, Apr 22, 2014, 6:57 PM UTC

Rabidgremlin wrote: post #32

contingencies wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great open source tool for these is http://www.mcternan.me.uk/mscgen/

Also https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ and http://www.umlet.com/ (if you need to do more then just sequence diagrams)

Post by mokelly » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 3:10 PM UTC