Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!spage
From: spage@cup.portal.com (S spage Page)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: OOP diagrams, visual semantics
Message-ID: <34723@cup.portal.com>
Date: 10 Oct 90 13:06:06 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 20

I'm documenting an object-oriented system with lots of objects.  I need to
come up with pictures showing class inheritance, instances of classes, 
messages being sent between objects, inter-task messaging, instance data,
etc.  And since these classes model a computer system, there are other
relationships at work: the window hierarchy, the file system hierarchy,
process hierarchy, flow-of-control, convention inter-task communication...

Yikes!  There's a lot of semantic information to get across.  Clearly you
can't communicate everything about a system in a single diagram.  I need
to come up with a visual approach that informs the reader "these two symbols
represent X's, and the line between them represents their Y relationship."

In doing this, I'd like to leverage off existing work.  So, two questions:
   o   are there any "standards" for OOP diagrams?  Do the latest 
       flow-chart stencils have the extra symbols for OOP? ;-)
   o   are there any particular visual presentations of OOP systems that
       you like?  Book references please.

Many, many thanks.
=S Page