15 replies to this topic

[eddie]

I can't seem to search for anything.

I'm trying to find any links/references people have to UML diagrams, (I *swear* I brought this topic up a while ago), but everytime I search, it yields nothing.

When I try looking for "C++" even (no quotes), it yields 0 results.

Anyone know what gives?

Cheers.

[monjardin]

I've had the same search problem during the past few weeks...

What kind of UML information do you need?

[eddie]

I think you sent out a quick reference sheet on one of my original posts. I'm not sure if that's suitable, but maybe.

I'm basically looking for a quick and easy "Use these types of arrows for aggregation, this for inheritance, etc". I'm currently writing it up on my Wiki just for my own reference, but I wouldn't mind having somewhere else reputable to read it from first. ;)

[monjardin]

Was it this one, this one or this one?

Edit: Fixed the second link

[eddie]

Well, the first two are the same, and I found them with a google search.

I suppose it really *was* a quick reference, but it was crazy all the relationships it was trying to depict. I ended up using this as a quick brush-up, so I could understand the reference again.

Man, UML's crazy busy. I think I'll stick with my own trimmed down version of it.

[monjardin]

Sorry, I messed up the second link. These are the three I had intended to post:

• http://www.digilife....ence%20Card.pdf
  
• http://www.digilife....ence%20Card.pdf
  
• http://www.digilife....Use%20Cases.pdf

The second link is not as quick as the first (i.e. two pages instead of one)!

[eddie]

Interesting. That second one is actually a bit more useful since it seems to be very C++ class based (versus use-cases, and all the other types of models that one can get with UML).

Personal opinion: I can't say I really fancy this UML stuff yet. Perhaps it hasn't 'clicked' for me yet, but I can't see myself liking it for more than drawing out the highlevel, in which case I really don't need more than a couple of boxes and three types of arrows.

As I'm reading some of these (and others), I'm learning the differences between aggregation and composition, the different types of references, and I'm starting to think, "Why do I care? These things can change highly in code -- I'm more interested in the high-level anyhow.". Perhaps I'm missing something, but then again, everyone uses tools differently. <shrug>

Anyhow, I've completely hijacked my own thread, but it's been pretty useful. I wonder if any of the DevMaster staff have noticed that the search functionality is broken...?

[monjardin]

I did a search this morning that seemed to work, but a lot of false positives cropped up.

UML can describe code structures in high-detail. Until you've prototyped a concept, it's unlikely that everything will go exactly as planned-hence your apprehention. However, if you need to express exactly how you designed something down to the gnats-ass details, then UML has the expressive power to do so.

[eddie]

I still find it odd that searching for "lua" or "c++" shows nothing...

I understand that UML's very good at high-detail prototyping, but I suppose I'm one of the critics who argues that code is a very fluid things. Perhaps it's different if you're working on a large legacy app that has to be specced out "to the gnats-ass" (I like that term. ;) ), but for most of the coding I do, the document's unusable twenty seconds after I write it, if I go too detailed.

I suppose it's just a case of using it how and when it gives you the best bang for your buck.

[monjardin]

eddie said:

I suppose it's just a case of using it how and when it gives you the best bang for your buck.

Exactly!

Also, have you tried generating UML-style diagrams from your C++ code with doxygen and graphviz?

There is a project called StarUML that is supposed to be an open source Rational Rose, but I don't know how developed it is.

[eddie]

I used to use doxygen and graphviz in combo, which is kind of nice. That said, Doxygen's default output is yukky. There was another alternative, called DoxyS that I was using for a while. It had a much nicer output.

That said, I didn't like using Doxygen for philosophy/high-level docs. It just didn't feel natural, so I made a progression to a Wiki, and usually reference the specific pages inside the DoxyS output when I need to.

[eddie]

I'm bumping this in the hopes that someone from DevMaster can give me the skinny on the search functionality being broken.

I'd love to be able to search for posts so I can point people at other posts people have mentioned.

Perhaps I'll try Google with site:devmaster.net, but it would be nice to use the inbuilt search!

[Dia]

Interesting...I've never been aware of this issue.
It seems that it is a limitation of MySQL's search capability as set by the server; it only indexes words that are 4 or more characters. I think it would be reasonable to change this limit to 3.

I'll have the server admin take care of this...

[eddie]

Ah, interesting. I suppose that makes sense. No wonder I was having trouble looking for 'lua' or 'c++'. ;)

[monjardin]

That would explain why some searches do work. Good find Dia. :)

[eddie]

Indeed! Sorry, I neglected even a "thanks". ;)