ThinkComposer. Flowcharts, Concept Maps, Mind Maps, Diagrams and Models

I always want to like tools in this vein, but I typically find myself disappointed. And I've spent too many hours trying to use diagrams to make sense of code, of systems, of workflows, etc. But I think the problem is there's a goldilocks zone where diagrams etc are the right tool.

If the thing you're making sense of is small, a diagram doesn't add much value and may not be needed.

If the thing you're making sense of is too large or complex, a diagram may not be sufficient; you'll likely need to introduce new simplifying groupings or abstractions, or else the diagram will be a huge sprawling tangle. And the diagram may not be even a good start in helping you to identify what those abstractions or groupings should be.

In graph terms, you want the number of nodes to be moderate, and you want the maximum degree of any node to be relatively low. The graph doesn't need to be planar but it helps if it is. And even if you can draw out your diagram and make sense of it today, as your system/repo/whatever grows in complexity, will it still be diagrammable in six months?

ComodoHacker• 4 years ago

Levels of abstraction and nested diagrams were invented to solve the exact problem you describe.

bakuninsbart• 4 years ago

In my experience (UML) diagrams have 3 good applications:

1. As a visual aid during project planning meetings. Basically, in the stage where most initial requirements are on the table, it can really help focus a discussion on which architecture components to build, and how these should interact.

2. As a teaching aid for junior devs. The tough part is thinking of a viable architecture, and making UML diagrams is probably half the work a senior dev would put into actually writing the code. It is however really useful for teaching junior devs, because you can give them a direction while letting them figure out a lot of the details themselves.

3. In documentation, I think few things are as useful as having diagrams explain the components, behavior, data flow, chronology etc. They also look pretty and can "ease up" reading difficult documentations.

That said, except for point 3, and I think a tool like mermaid.js, which enables programmers to write diagrams fast and with little learning effort is much more appropriate.

Jeff_Brown2• 4 years ago

In the last ten years (ever since The Incident) I can think of exactly one problem that seemed to require an arrows-and-boxes picture. It's the dependency graph for a project. I generate the picture from a Makefile.

Nobody actually uses the picture. We only work on one program in that system at a time, and all we need to know are its local inputs and outputs. The Makefile ensures there are no cycles.

It is admittedly somewhat unsatisfying to be unable to grok the whole thing at once. But that's the nature of almost everything in life.

jrm42• 4 years ago

A thing I've discovered (at least for me but YMMV) -- these tools seem attractive because of how they mimic how our real brains work - but that's exactly why they're not that useful. Your brain is better at what they do than these tools.

hutzlibu• 4 years ago

"but that's exactly why they're not that useful. Your brain is better at what they do than these tools."

It is still easier to parse diagramms, than it is to parse text. The real problem seems to be the extra work of creating the diagrams amd keeping them up to date.

bryanrasmussen2• 4 years ago

It is still easier to parse diagramms, than it is to parse text.

for you, for me it's not. As I must assume that I am not unique this means there are also others for whom diagrams are not useful and difficult to parse and for whom text is useful and easy to parse.

jrm42• 4 years ago

I think you could make an argument that this is objectively false; otherwise the human race would have "evolved" the written word into something "diagrammy."

Jeff_Brown2• 4 years ago

It's one thing to have a diagram in your head, quite another to transmit that diagram to someone else's head -- or even to your own a month from now. That's where writing things down helps.

montroser• 4 years ago

We use Plectica[1] for this type of stuff at work. Once you enable comments and attributes add-ons, it can be pretty great.

[1] https://beta.plectica.com

IOT_Apprentice• 4 years ago

This looks quite interesting, thanks for sharing it. I'm going to dive a bit further into this.

oldstrangers• 4 years ago

Why not just use Miro or Figma?

bryanrasmussen2• 4 years ago

I do get the feeling of all the things I've never found a great use for under one roof at last!

ThinkComposer. Flowcharts, Concept Maps, Mind Maps, Diagrams and Models

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