• IkeaTheSofa -.- Marcus (4/4) Feb 28 2005 I'm planning a D application (mostly a learning app.). I've been trying ...
• Matthew (4/11) Feb 28 2005 Try to. Inevitably it wanders off into some private dialect of squiggles...
• Nick Sabalausky (8/12) Mar 01 2005 I'll usually just think it through. If it's something a little more com...
• pragma (36/40) Mar 01 2005 I use UML, but mostly for complex class trees. Since I'm a visual think...

"IkeaTheSofa -.- Marcus" <ikea_the_sofa hotmail.com> writes:

I'm planning a D application (mostly a learning app.). I've been trying to 
find a good way to plan how the application will work before I start code 
writing. I've been reading tutorials on UML. Just wondering what everyone 
else uses? Do you use UML or something simplier?

"Matthew" <admin stlsoft.dot.dot.dot.dot.org> writes:

"IkeaTheSofa -.- Marcus" <ikea_the_sofa hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:Xns960BD1CBE9C33ikeathesofaAThotmail 63.105.9.61...
 I'm planning a D application (mostly a learning app.). I've been 
 trying to
 find a good way to plan how the application will work before I start 
 code
 writing. I've been reading tutorials on UML. Just wondering what 
 everyone
 else uses? Do you use UML or something simplier?

Try to. Inevitably it wanders off into some private dialect of squiggles 
that only I understand, and only on the day it's done. ;) 

"Nick Sabalausky" <z a.a> writes:

"IkeaTheSofa -.- Marcus" <ikea_the_sofa hotmail.com> wrote in message 
news:Xns960BD1CBE9C33ikeathesofaAThotmail 63.105.9.61...
 I'm planning a D application (mostly a learning app.). I've been trying to
 find a good way to plan how the application will work before I start code
 writing. I've been reading tutorials on UML. Just wondering what everyone
 else uses? Do you use UML or something simplier?

I'll usually just think it through.  If it's something a little more complex 
then I may jot down a few drawings, but I've never come across a need for 
full-blown UML. The code usually speaks for itself. (Although, if other 
people needed to learn my code, I'd probably create some more formalized 
drawings to help illustrate the topology, if I didn't think I could explain 
it well in words.) 

pragma <pragma_member pathlink.com> writes:

In article <Xns960BD1CBE9C33ikeathesofaAThotmail 63.105.9.61>, IkeaTheSofa -.-
Marcus says...
I'm planning a D application (mostly a learning app.). I've been trying to 
find a good way to plan how the application will work before I start code 
writing. I've been reading tutorials on UML. Just wondering what everyone 
else uses? Do you use UML or something simplier?

I use UML, but mostly for complex class trees.  Since I'm a visual thinker,
actually seeing the relationships in dense class graphs helps me understand what
I'm trying to accomplish; now and especially later.  For me, its almost always a
design tool and never a documentation one (although I expect to change that
habit).

However, I do not use all that UML's grammar provides me, since I find
documenting *everything* in UML to detract from a diagram's usefullness.  I tend
to stick to mostly class diagrams.  I sparingly use State and
Interaction/Collaboration diagrams to help with clarifying complex interactions,
which in my experience are almost exclusively applied to client-server
interaction

I've also found that Use Case diagrams help immensely with drafting software
with non-trival user-interfaces (anything with a GUI).  But again, I tend to use
this sparingly; usually when designing software for someone other than me.

<soapbox>
I've found UML to be a genuinely good tool and communication medium.  Completed
UML documents do their job well by clearly conveying structure, and complex
relationships.  It also excells at lowering the bar for understanding existing
software, provided that one is capable of reading UML.

UML is the closest thing to an industry de-facto standard for visual
communication.  It gives the author much more confidence that one will
understand their diagrams, hence making their documentation more useful.  It
beats the hell out of reading a separate digram language for every book on your
shelf; even Rumbaugh's older works are barely recognizable as UML-like.

The only problems I've had with UML is with systems that go through a *lot* of
state changes, and those with dense user-interfaces.   Web Applications are
stacked high on top of those two principles, so my UML diagrams fail to capture
the entire application despite my best efforts.  I think this is because UML is
designed to illustrate entity relationships more easily than state dynamism, and
'lifelike' UI diagrams and mockups are strictly forbidden (not abstract enough).
A UML extension to allow both would make jobs like this much easier to
illustrate.
</soapbox>

- EricAnderton at yahoo