7. Practical Diagramming Methods

Chapter 6, Diagramming – an Introduction, laid the groundwork for the use of diagrams as a software design tool. In general, it described the basic ideas of the subject in a fairly abstract way. These now need to be related to practical methods. In this chapter, the work is extended to show:

• The general role of diagrams as a design and modeling tool/language
• How these fit in with the functional flow and object-oriented (OO) design techniques
• The relationship between functional flow and data flow methods
• The information contained in the various diagrams
• Why extensions and modifications of basic diagram types are needed in certain real-time applications
• The general syntax and semantics of commonly used notations
• That different techniques have been developed to solve the same problem
• Those methods that differ in detail are often based upon the same structural concepts

How we use these diagrams when...