Subj : Re: Flowchart software that supports top down development? To : comp.programming,microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion,microsoft.public.visio.developer From : LurfysMa Date : Wed Jul 27 2005 03:25 pm On 27 Jul 2005 01:28:55 -0700, "Rob Thorpe" wrote: >LurfysMa wrote: >> On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 03:42:51 GMT, CBFalconer >> wrote: >> >> >Phlip wrote: >> >> >> >... snip ... >> >> >> >> Nobody does top-down like that any more. That technique was once >> >> promoted as "structural programming". It has a major flaw. >> >> >> >> The flaw is you can't test the program and get perfect behavior >> >> until you code everything. (And the system you describe is _coding_, >> >> not designing or planning. If you get the flowchart wrong, the >> >> result will have bugs. >> > >> >Bosh. You aren't writing your 'structured' programs properly. You >> >can fill in levels with a simple dummy function that just prints >> >"galomphing the flugel". This way you will rapidly get to >> >something that just processes its input, and you can see any flaws >> >there. Then you get around to expanding the other areas. >> > >> >The point is that you get to something that runs and accepts input >> >very quickly. As you continue refinement it does more and more, >> >with the various stubs reminders of what is yet to be done. >> >Banishing the refinements to stub functions means you establish >> >those functional interfaces early. Since they are still stubs you >> >can usually refine the interface without causing major upheaval. >> >> I agree that it can work if done properly. >> >> Now, do you know of a flowcharting tool that will do most of the >> clerical part of keeping track of the links (stubs)? > >If you write the code as you go, and comment each function, then >Doxygen (http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/) should do document >roughly what you need. It has lots of features for OO programming, but >you can always ignore them if you don't want to use them. Thanks for that pointer. Doxygen appears to be tightly linked to the programming langauge. I am looking for a language-independent development tool. I am writing a spec for a project and the programmers will choose the language. I am just doing a functional flowchart. We might get down to the code level eventually, but that is not required. I was really looking for a tool like Visio, but with some ability to keep track of the parent-child links and the stubs. Thanks It does not appear to support Visual Basic. I -- .