Opinions about flow charting software??? I have tried flow chart software in the past, but it wasn't very easy to use. Anything out there now that is as easy as paper & pencil? Thx Scott Kelley
Flow-charting software?
Started by ●December 2, 2005
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
I think Microsoft Visio is pretty good. I had a bit of trouble with it when starting, but now that I have my "Favorites" shapes all organized, its a breeze. I don't know how good Visio is for large and complicated flowcharts, but for simple flowcharts its really good and fast. I stopped using paper and pensil, because an error causes you to redraw the flowchart which wastes time. In addition it has the usual Microsoft look to it and can export/import in many standard formats.
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
> Opinions about flow charting software???My opinion: it sucks. I like to use large paper (butcher paper or sometimes just 11x17 out of the copier) and a pencil. While sketching flowcharts and deciding the code flow, nobody expects cosmetic perfection. It only needs to look pretty if it's going into a specification, whitepaper or something a suit might read. (In the latter case, it is safe to redact the flowchart into three boxes: START -> (Patented algorithm) -> END - since they won't understand anything deeper than this). It's much easier (for me) to sketch with a pencil and then, if necessary for publication, transcribe the final edited result into a piece of software. I HATE maintaining flowcharts electronically.
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
Actually you can do it in Microsoft Word: Insert | Picture | Autoshapes | Flowchart. Not very elegant, a pain to use and difficult to maintain, but if you wanted to document a completed design, then most likely it is on your desktop for no extra cost. -Aubrey Kagan>Opinions about flow charting software??? > >I have tried flow chart software in the past, but it wasn't very easy to>use. Anything out there now that is as easy as paper & pencil? > >Thx >Scott Kelley > > >
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 21:00:02 -0800, "Scott Kelley" <scottk@iccom.com> wrote:>Opinions about flow charting software??? > >I have tried flow chart software in the past, but it wasn't very easy to >use. Anything out there now that is as easy as paper & pencil? > >Thx >Scott Kelley >I've used Visio a lot, & can recommend it. Another that I used to use was called AllClear, from a company called Clear Soft. It was interesting, in that you write a brief "script" & the program generates a chart based on the end character of each line. I found it very useful, after I got the hang of it, & actually used it to check logic in application designs. I don't know if it's still around or not. JM
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
"Scott Kelley" <scottk@iccom.com> wrote in message news:l-udnSODe6dpSRLeRVn-vw@centurytel.net...> Opinions about flow charting software??? > > I have tried flow chart software in the past, but it wasn't very easy to > use. Anything out there now that is as easy as paper & pencil?Yeah - any text editor and pseudo-code. I gave up using flowcharts agout 25 years ago for various reasons: - they don't enforce good structure - they're always out of date (the code gets tweaked, and the flowchart doesn't) - the lack of any real means of generating/maintaining them electronically, i.e. alongside the rest of the project. I switched to using pseudo-code, i.e. a generalised structured language. Example: IF button pressed THEN get keypress deal with keypress ENDIF Eventually I wrote C that was clear enough that it performed both roles and was self-documenting, so I dropped the pseudo-code - but it still gets rolled out for non-technical people's use. HTH, Steve http://www.fivetrees.com
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
Steve at fivetrees wrote:> I switched to using pseudo-code, i.e. a generalised structured language.Flowcharts work better (for me) when illustrating complicated nested loops. It doesn't really matter, either one is just a logical aid in designing software.
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
Scott Kelley wrote:> Opinions about flow charting software??? > > I have tried flow chart software in the past, but it wasn't very easy to > use. Anything out there now that is as easy as paper & pencil? > > Thx > Scott KelleyI do a lot of contract maintenance and use Visio when I'm learning new code. I especially like that I can insert links to other pages/files of related Visio pages and files as well as to other reference documents. New code? Pseudocode. Ken Asbury
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02
On 2 Dec 2005 06:47:45 -0800 in comp.arch.embedded, "larwe" <zwsdotcom@gmail.com> wrote:> >Steve at fivetrees wrote: > >> I switched to using pseudo-code, i.e. a generalised structured language. > >Flowcharts work better (for me) when illustrating complicated nested >loops. > >It doesn't really matter, either one is just a logical aid in designing >software.FWIW, I find Nassi-Schneiderman diagrams much clearer than flowcharts for such purposes, and they help prevent you from making most of the mistakes flowcharts allow. Google's first hit (http://users.evitech.fi/~jaanah/IntroC/DBeech/3gl_nassi.htm) does a pretty good job describing them. Regards, -=Dave -- Change is inevitable, progress is not.
Reply by ●December 2, 20052005-12-02