jackson%nadc@sri-unix.UUCP (03/02/84)
I am interested in finding Flow charting software that will run under VAX/UNIX. I most interested in one that will merge the flow chart graphics with text. Thanks for your info, Clyde Jackson at NADC
ian@utcsstat.UUCP (Ian F. Darwin) (03/06/84)
Flow charting -- an ancient technique which was often over-generalised into a volumninous and tedious way of documenting, for those who didn't care, by those who didn't know, the intricate details of the structure of programs which had grown too large for human comprehension. - from Darwin's Dictionary To quote from the ``Full Report of the Flowchart Committee on ANS Standard X3.5-1970,'', dated June, 1978: If Recommendation #1 be rejected, and either Recommendations #2 or #3 be rejected, then the Flowchart Committee recommends withdrawing the existing ANS Flowchart Standard. A Standard that cannot muster enough support to be used or to be made possibly usable, should be abandoned. [Recommendation #1 called for a massive study of the use of flowcharts; #2 and #3 recommended changes to the existing standard.] Before you flame: this is not intended to abuse the poster who was looking for ``FLOW CHARTING SOFTWARE'', but only to convey my present opinions on the subject of flow charting in general. UNIX programmers, furthermore, seldom write programs which are so large that they need flow charts. The exceptions are invariably not accompanied by flow charts anyway. Discussion of better techniques of making programs readable appears in the Kernighan & Plauger books on Software Tools and related literature. -- Ian F. Darwin, Toronto uucp: utcsstat!ian