Ask HN: How do you personally diagram code?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26936635

by jamestimmins • 5 years ago

11 12 5 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

UML is quite formal and involved. Drawing boxes with arrows on Lucidchart or Draw.io is easy, but the lack of detail is a liability when code gets complex.

How do you personally diagram code so there's enough detail, but you aren't constantly getting lost in the formality of the system?

slipwalker• 5 years ago

  - context diagram for an overview
  - uml sequence diagram for a more detailed view of interesting parts
  - entity relatioship model for databases

jamestimmins• 5 years ago

Ah so you have multiple different diagrams for the same domain? I've been trying to do everything with one, which might be the problem.

segmondy• 5 years ago

paper & pen

fiftyacorn• 5 years ago

Me too with notes scrawled all over it

type0• 5 years ago

Take a look at https://diagrams.mingrammer.com/

el_dev_hell• 5 years ago

I default to https://www.diagrams.net/.

But I've used Microsoft Visio in the past and it's a really nice solution (this was 3 years ago, so it might be better/worse now).

rualca• 5 years ago

I use mostly UML.

Component diagrams and deployment diagrams for the general overview, architecture and operations-wise.

Communication diagrams for some workflows.

Sequence diagrams to show how operations are executed.

For onboarding, sometimes a class diagram or two.

joshxyz• 5 years ago

Combination of things

- diagram for high level

- diagram for small complex things

- comment on code as necessary

- write good enough documentation that is enough to onboard people to the project structure

- write decent commit messages

joergen7• 5 years ago

I use Petri nets. They allow me to diagram communicating systems, making explicit how active components (like functions or services) and passive components (like storage or i/o-devices) interact.

Petri nets have formal semantics easy enough to grasp (firing rule) and provide enough optical cues to make them readable at a glance.

With a little practice, nets can be visually appealing, which helps in presentations and publications. I use Inkscape as a drawing tool.

vladojsem• 5 years ago

I use mostly Entity-Relationship for designing a database, and UML Class diagrams.

Personally I prefer typing to drag-and-drop so I use https://www.gleek.io/

Check templates and turials, or ask me if you like to know more ;-)

ezekg• 5 years ago

I use https://monodraw.helftone.com. A good example of how to make exceptional diagrams is brandur's blog [0].

[0] https://brandur.org/postgres-reads

ayoubElk• 5 years ago

https://whimsical.com

Ask HN: How do you personally diagram code?

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