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If you learn only one diagram from UML, take the time to understand and use Sequence Diagrams [1]. Being able to break down an interaction into a sequence diag

If you learn only one diagram from UML, take the time to understand and use Sequence Diagrams [1]. Being able to break down an interaction into a sequence diagram (especially between 2 or 3 servers) is a powerful thought tool for specifying interactions and its easy for people to understand. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_diagram http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_diagram

lukifer 12y ago
I've always written off UML, but that is a sublimely useful notation. Thanks for sharing.
zenbowman 12y ago
Sequence diagrams are extremely useful. The only problem with UML is that it was used as a method of intellectual masturbation by people who love massive class hierarchies. There's a lot of good stuff in UML, the problem is that the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code. There are the same guys who spent years building up formalisms in tools like Rational Rose and other pseudo-engineering tools. When used by good programmers to illustrate specific hard-to-reason about components of the system, it is a useful tool. Activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, use case diagrams and communication diagrams are all useful.
- vorg 12y ago
  > the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code Sounds like the same people who became Agile consultants in the early 2000's. Perhaps they realized activity and sequence diagrams can get fairly complicated soon enough, so they looked for a bandwagon requiring no technical chops whatever.
  - _random_ 12y ago
    Some of them became TDD consultants later on - it is more trendy now, although the hype is dying down a bit lately.
contingencies 12y ago
A great open source tool for these is http://www.mcternan.me.uk/mscgen/ http://www.mcternan.me.uk/mscgen/
- EvanAnderson 12y ago
  Thanks for that link! That's a great looking tool.
- Rabidgremlin 12y ago
  Also https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ and http://www.umlet.com/ http://www.umlet.com/ (if you need to do more then just sequence diagrams)
  - glitchdout 12y ago
    And I'd like to add js-sequence-diagrams: http://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/ http://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/
  - foxwoods 12y ago
    WebSequenceDiagrams also has a Google Docs add-on [1] [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/websequencediagrams/oljmnnpjaficgablfcpbdepajkkapjeg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/websequencediagram...
endgame 12y ago
zenbowman's reply is [dead]. Why?
- ENGNR 12y ago
  Because business users can understand them and the process flow is important to them (entity-relationship diagrams work well too for modeling the data and establishing a basic glossary for future communication) After that it usually turns out to be simpler to create a prototype or wireframe than UML diagrams these days (IMO).
- rosser 12y ago
  Presumably hellbanned, but on a quick perusal of the account's comment history, I don't see anything warranting that.
- dangrossman 12y ago
  The most common cause of individual [dead] comments on an otherwise not-banned account is double posting. If you accidentally submit the same comment twice, the second one is killed. Since both show as live on your screen, when you delete one of the duplicates, you may delete the one that's live to everyone else, while leaving the one that's dead to everyone else.
  - dang 12y ago
    I'm impressed that you got this exactly right. We've made a few fixes to try to plug this hole, but it unfortunately still happens.
- Todd 12y ago
  I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's because of the dismissive tone regarding early proponents. I lived through this period and remember being attracted to Booch notation and similar early efforts (as well as GoF patterns, etc.). Ours is still a relatively young profession and before UML codified some of the ways to view problems clearly (from a particular perspective), one was often reduced to writing out algorithms and data structures and diagramming in off-the-cuff ways.
- 12y ago
mark_l_watson 12y ago
+1 exactly right I co-wrote a book on UML years ago, used to be an enthusiast. Now I write some sequence diagrams, and once in a while might write a high level class diagram. It is all about communication, and a sequence diagram is good for that.

lukifer 12y ago

I've always written off UML, but that is a sublimely useful notation. Thanks for sharing.

zenbowman 12y ago

Sequence diagrams are extremely useful. The only problem with UML is that it was used as a method of intellectual masturbation by people who love massive class hierarchies. There's a lot of good stuff in UML, the problem is that the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code. There are the same guys who spent years building up formalisms in tools like Rational Rose and other pseudo-engineering tools. When used by good programmers to illustrate specific hard-to-reason about components of the system, it is a useful tool. Activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, use case diagrams and communication diagrams are all useful.

vorg 12y ago
> the people who were attracted to it in the mid 90s were the same people who were poor programmers and were looking for any excuse to avoid writing code Sounds like the same people who became Agile consultants in the early 2000's. Perhaps they realized activity and sequence diagrams can get fairly complicated soon enough, so they looked for a bandwagon requiring no technical chops whatever.
- _random_ 12y ago
  Some of them became TDD consultants later on - it is more trendy now, although the hype is dying down a bit lately.

contingencies 12y ago

A great open source tool for these is http://www.mcternan.me.uk/mscgen/ http://www.mcternan.me.uk/mscgen/

EvanAnderson 12y ago
Thanks for that link! That's a great looking tool.
Rabidgremlin 12y ago
Also https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ and http://www.umlet.com/ http://www.umlet.com/ (if you need to do more then just sequence diagrams)
- glitchdout 12y ago
  And I'd like to add js-sequence-diagrams: http://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/ http://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/
- foxwoods 12y ago
  WebSequenceDiagrams also has a Google Docs add-on [1] [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/websequencediagrams/oljmnnpjaficgablfcpbdepajkkapjeg https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/websequencediagram...

endgame 12y ago

zenbowman's reply is [dead]. Why?

ENGNR 12y ago
Because business users can understand them and the process flow is important to them (entity-relationship diagrams work well too for modeling the data and establishing a basic glossary for future communication) After that it usually turns out to be simpler to create a prototype or wireframe than UML diagrams these days (IMO).
rosser 12y ago
Presumably hellbanned, but on a quick perusal of the account's comment history, I don't see anything warranting that.
dangrossman 12y ago
The most common cause of individual [dead] comments on an otherwise not-banned account is double posting. If you accidentally submit the same comment twice, the second one is killed. Since both show as live on your screen, when you delete one of the duplicates, you may delete the one that's live to everyone else, while leaving the one that's dead to everyone else.
- dang 12y ago
  I'm impressed that you got this exactly right. We've made a few fixes to try to plug this hole, but it unfortunately still happens.
Todd 12y ago
I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it's because of the dismissive tone regarding early proponents. I lived through this period and remember being attracted to Booch notation and similar early efforts (as well as GoF patterns, etc.). Ours is still a relatively young profession and before UML codified some of the ways to view problems clearly (from a particular perspective), one was often reduced to writing out algorithms and data structures and diagramming in off-the-cuff ways.
12y ago

mark_l_watson 12y ago

+1 exactly right I co-wrote a book on UML years ago, used to be an enthusiast. Now I write some sequence diagrams, and once in a while might write a high level class diagram. It is all about communication, and a sequence diagram is good for that.