5 ms·

Show HN: Fast, Easy System Diagrams

59 points by flamingcow 7y ago

nullwarp 7y ago
This is neat though I don't seem to be able to link more than 2 nodes together.
- flamingcow 7y ago
  Thanks for this and filing the github issue as well. I put together a tutorial to walk through usage in more detail: https://github.com/firestuff/architype/blob/master/TUTORIAL.md https://github.com/firestuff/architype/blob/master/TUTORIAL....
  - stormy 7y ago
    In the linked example for the tutorial, I see there is a "gRPC" label for the links inside the two region groups, however, I am not seeing that label show up anywhere on the diagram. Is that expected behavior? Other than that, very promising project and the vi keybindings are a nice touch.
    - flamingcow 7y ago
      Bug fixed early today -- you may have a cached copy. Try shift-reload.
flamingcow 7y ago
I spend lots of my time at a whiteboard diagramming current or proposed systems. The whiteboard experience is less than ideal: my handwriting isn't great, folks on the other side of a VC can't see, etc. Most diagramming software is designed for careful human placement to get precise results. I built Architype to let me take notes and play with system designs in real time during a conversation, in a way that can be easily projected. It's designed to be entirely client-side and fast, but still powerful enough to produce useful diagrams for most purposes.
- based2 7y ago
  https://tomassetti.me/recognizing-hand-written-shapes-programmatically-find-the-key-points-of-a-rectangle/ https://tomassetti.me/recognizing-hand-written-shapes-progra... https://azure.microsoft.com/fr-fr/blog/turn-your-whiteboard-sketches-to-working-code-in-seconds-with-sketch2code/ https://azure.microsoft.com/fr-fr/blog/turn-your-whiteboard-... https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/11/15263434/google-ai-autodraw-doodle-bot-drawing-image-recognition https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/11/15263434/google-ai-autodr... https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/# https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/#
sdeep27 7y ago
Suggestion: it would be very useful to see some examples.
- flamingcow 7y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion. I'd previously added the tutorial linked below, but that clearly wasn't cutting it, so I've now added an example diagram for first-time visitors. If you already visited, click on the top object (probably the help text), press shift-D to delete all items, then refresh the page.
contingencies 7y ago
mscgen + graphviz
- based2 7y ago
  or plantUML: http://plantuml.com/en/sequence-diagram http://plantuml.com/en/sequence-diagram
dangom 7y ago
Really cool stuff! I'm glad I didn't miss it. The keybindings really make prototyping much faster, especially for keyboard-centric devs out there.

59 points by flamingcow 7y ago

nullwarp 7y ago

This is neat though I don't seem to be able to link more than 2 nodes together.

flamingcow 7y ago
Thanks for this and filing the github issue as well. I put together a tutorial to walk through usage in more detail: https://github.com/firestuff/architype/blob/master/TUTORIAL.md https://github.com/firestuff/architype/blob/master/TUTORIAL....
- stormy 7y ago
  In the linked example for the tutorial, I see there is a "gRPC" label for the links inside the two region groups, however, I am not seeing that label show up anywhere on the diagram. Is that expected behavior? Other than that, very promising project and the vi keybindings are a nice touch.
  - flamingcow 7y ago
    Bug fixed early today -- you may have a cached copy. Try shift-reload.

flamingcow 7y ago

I spend lots of my time at a whiteboard diagramming current or proposed systems. The whiteboard experience is less than ideal: my handwriting isn't great, folks on the other side of a VC can't see, etc. Most diagramming software is designed for careful human placement to get precise results. I built Architype to let me take notes and play with system designs in real time during a conversation, in a way that can be easily projected. It's designed to be entirely client-side and fast, but still powerful enough to produce useful diagrams for most purposes.

based2 7y ago
https://tomassetti.me/recognizing-hand-written-shapes-programmatically-find-the-key-points-of-a-rectangle/ https://tomassetti.me/recognizing-hand-written-shapes-progra... https://azure.microsoft.com/fr-fr/blog/turn-your-whiteboard-sketches-to-working-code-in-seconds-with-sketch2code/ https://azure.microsoft.com/fr-fr/blog/turn-your-whiteboard-... https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/11/15263434/google-ai-autodraw-doodle-bot-drawing-image-recognition https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/11/15263434/google-ai-autodr... https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/# https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/#

sdeep27 7y ago

Suggestion: it would be very useful to see some examples.

flamingcow 7y ago
Thanks for the suggestion. I'd previously added the tutorial linked below, but that clearly wasn't cutting it, so I've now added an example diagram for first-time visitors. If you already visited, click on the top object (probably the help text), press shift-D to delete all items, then refresh the page.

contingencies 7y ago

mscgen + graphviz

based2 7y ago
or plantUML: http://plantuml.com/en/sequence-diagram http://plantuml.com/en/sequence-diagram

dangom 7y ago

Really cool stuff! I'm glad I didn't miss it. The keybindings really make prototyping much faster, especially for keyboard-centric devs out there.