Ask HN: What diagrams do you use in software development?

1

Graphviz

I mainly use diagrams in documentation and not in specification or development (although tools I am learning to use, such as Alloy [0], for specifications do generate diagrams of the state). In documentation I typically use a mix of ditaa[1], mermaid[2], and graphviz[3]. I used ditaa for architecture diagrams, a mix of sequence, flow chart, and ER diagrams in mermaid to explain protocols or interactions; and I use graphviz usually for datastructures or dependencies, etc. [0] https://alloytools.org [1] https://ditaa.sourceforge.net [2] https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/#/ [3] https://graphviz.org/.

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #Flow Charts And Diagrams 80 social mentions

2

SequenceDiagram.org

#Diagrams #Flow Charts And Diagrams #Flowcharts 29 social mentions

3

Excalidraw

Flow chart, sequence and class diagrams are the ones I use the most in my current job. In source, I generally use Mermaid[1] as its syntax is easily maintainable and understandable. As our documentation (mdBook) is written in markdown and can render Mermaid via a plugin[2]. When drawing quick diagrams during online communications, I use Excalidraw[3] as it's easy to use and has a nice whiteboard style to it. When I'm with my team (pre-covid), whiteboard or paper did the trick. [1]: https://mermaid-js.github.io/ [2]: https://github.com/badboy/mdbook-mermaid [3]: https://excalidraw.com/.

#Sketching #Digital Whiteboard #Digital Drawing And Painting 207 social mentions

4

IcePanel

We're currently working on tooling at http://icepanel.io which supports the C4 model. Please reach out to us if you'd like to chat about this, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

#Design Tools #Developer Tools #Software Architecture 35 social mentions

Https://diagrams.mingrammer.com/ I hate Visio so much, I do not hate any other software that much.

#Diagrams #Flow Charts And Diagrams #Software Development 45 social mentions

6

Miro

#Digital Whiteboard #Team Collaboration #Visual Collaboration 232 social mentions

7

Diagrams.net

Draw.io is amazing! It has now been renamed to diagrams.net: https://app.diagrams.net/ Github repo: https://github.com/jgraph/drawio It's very easy to self-host, especially on Github Pages: https://github.com/jgraph/drawio#running There's also desktop apps for Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac and Chrome OS: https://github.com/jgraph/drawio-desktop/releases/latest.

#Digital Whiteboard #Diagrams #Flowcharts 229 social mentions

8

GoJS

I actually make a diagramming library for the web, called GoJS: https://gojs.net So I make all kinds of diagrams, mostly as demonstrations. When developing an API itself, especially one where there are phases (objects must measure themselves and draw in a certain order, and not more than they need to), state machine-style and flowchart-style diagrams are awfully helpful.

#Flowcharts #Org Charts #BPMN 11 social mentions

9

Terrastruct

I've recently started using Terrastruct, which I've come to enjoy as I feel like I can quickly put together business logic and share it with the team without the tool getting in the way: https://terrastruct.com/.

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #Developer Tools 15 social mentions

10

Productivity Power Tools

You can find it here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=hediet.vscode-drawio Like draw.io, it is open source! (https://github.com/hediet/vscode-drawio).

#Regular Expressions #Programming Tools #Development 360 social mentions

11

DIagrams Through Ascii Art

I mainly use diagrams in documentation and not in specification or development (although tools I am learning to use, such as Alloy [0], for specifications do generate diagrams of the state). In documentation I typically use a mix of ditaa[1], mermaid[2], and graphviz[3]. I used ditaa for architecture diagrams, a mix of sequence, flow chart, and ER diagrams in mermaid to explain protocols or interactions; and I use graphviz usually for datastructures or dependencies, etc. [0] https://alloytools.org [1] https://ditaa.sourceforge.net [2] https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/#/ [3] https://graphviz.org/.

#Diagrams #Flow Charts And Diagrams #Flowcharts 9 social mentions

12

Swimlanes.io

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #Flow Charts And Diagrams 5 social mentions

13

DBDiagram.io

#Databases #Database Management #Flowcharts 18 social mentions

14

Figma

For front-end to back-end web development, UI/UX-friendly collaborative diagramming: https://whimsical.co and https://figma.com (new FigJAM tool).

#Design Tools #Prototyping #Design Collaboration 101 social mentions

15

Markdeep

Markdeep[0] from Casual Effects has a way of drawing diagrams using extended markdown. I used it to write this document with two diagrams: https://loan-free-ed.neocities.org Other tool I like are PlanetUML[1], BoUML[2] and Modellio[3](it is very heavy though on system resources!) [0] https://casual-effects.com/markdeep [1] https://plantuml.com [2] https://bouml.fr [3] https://www.modelio.org.

#Competitive Intelligence #Data Profiling #Resource Profiling And Monitoring 25 social mentions

16

BOUML

Markdeep[0] from Casual Effects has a way of drawing diagrams using extended markdown. I used it to write this document with two diagrams: https://loan-free-ed.neocities.org Other tool I like are PlanetUML[1], BoUML[2] and Modellio[3](it is very heavy though on system resources!) [0] https://casual-effects.com/markdeep [1] https://plantuml.com [2] https://bouml.fr [3] https://www.modelio.org.

#UML #Diagrams #Simulation Software 1 social mentions

17

js-sequence-diagrams

We use a lot of sequence diagrams. So much so that thanks to https://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/ I've got a Netlify-powered static site for creating them interactively at https://sequence-diagrams.netlify.app/ using their JavaScript library.

#Diagrams #Flow Charts And Diagrams #Flowcharts 5 social mentions

For quick sketches of architectures, try https://isoflow.io (a tool I'm building). It's designed with a strong visual language in mind.

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #UML 7 social mentions

19

Monodraw

#Diagrams #Flowcharts #Wireframing 23 social mentions