Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!dali.cs.montana.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!kksys!edgar!mishima!tomg From: tomg@mishima.mishima.mn.org (Thomas S. Greenwalt) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Software Through Pictures Message-ID: <137@mishima.mishima.mn.org> Date: 25 May 91 00:40:50 GMT References: <136@mishima.mishima.mn.org> <1991May22.223228.5483@netcom.COM> Reply-To: tomg@mishima.MN.ORG (Thomas S. Greenwalt) Organization: A.N.N. Systems, Minneapolis MN Lines: 38 In article <1991May22.223228.5483@netcom.COM> jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes: >("I can't have a bad design--just look at these DIAGRAMS!"). For pictorial >design work, the all-time greatest tool is a whiteboard in a well-lit >room. I agree no office should be without several. I have two 4x6 ones at home. >But enough philosophy: there is a quite practical reason I'm dissatisfied >with pictorial CASE tools--they don't scale. I've used structured analysis >tools from a prominent vendor, and any time the complexity got very high >(e.g. lots of bubbles on a screen and/or lots of levels of diagrams), the >usefulness of the tool rapidly approached zero. The biggest complainent I've gotten from designers that have used pictorial CASE tools is that by the time a large project was diagramed, there was no way to get a comfortable overview of the application from them. Most of time the diagrams ended up on someones bookshelf and were never updated as the project continued. >None of this is to say that I hold out no hope that CASE tools can live up >to their billing, just that I don't think it has happened yet. I keep looking though. I think the concept is neat, and maybe in a better environment pictorial CASE will work better. Perhaps in a virtual reality, though then it probably will be the virtual whiteboard that is the most productive. >-- >**************** JIM SHOWALTER, jls@netcom.com, (408) 243-0630 **************** >*Proven solutions to software problems. Consulting and training on all aspects* >*of software development. Management/process/methodology. Architecture/design/* >*reuse. Quality/productivity. Risk reduction. EFFECTIVE OO usage. Ada/C++. * -- Thomas S. Greenwalt (Tom-Too) (612)866-1344 7300 Nicollet Ave. South tomg@mishima.mishima.mn.org Mpls, MN 55423 ------------ Morte nunquam reget - Death shall have no dominion. ------------