Ask HN: Any free tools (other than pen/paper) to plan application architectures

9 pointsSfi8110y ago6 comments

Background: I primarily code as a hobbyist (with some open-source contributions - I've been coding for over twenty years ) and so haven't really come across any structured tools that could help in planning out how to structure applications, help plan visualize and tweak how different parts of the application should interact etc. Googling seems to result in either books on the topic or very domain specific tools like UI mock-up designers etc. Are there any free & flexible tools to help plan-out application architectures?

6 comments

RichardZite10y ago

Good news @Sfi81, there are some tools for this. If you want to plan ahead and do that in detail or just sketch around with freehand drawings you have the ultimate zoomable whiteboard at your service which works in every browser. Give it a try at https://ziteboard.com Let me know if you need help with it.

Sfi81OP10y ago

Thanks! it does looks interesting as I've tried using Prezi for this sort of stuff before but tripped on its "presentation focused" features whereas this seems more flexible

benlaud10y ago

Argouml http://argouml.tigris.org/

Sfi81OP10y ago

Thanks - haven't seen UML before & will take it out for a spin. In your experience does it have a big learning curve?

benlaud10y ago

A tip for learning UML. If you don't understand what is it talking about, just ignore it. There are some concept which is just too complicated and not quite useful. Only pick the concept you like/understand, that is what you will use.

UML is a design language, but not a computer language. You don't need to follow everything in the standard.

That will learn UML in an easier way.

Personally I think UML is worth to learn. Since it could design an architecture with using some common building block that many people know. And those UML tool can draw and manage diagram to save your time.

codegeek10y ago

check out https://www.draw.io

They have many visual tools to draw up the app model/architecture.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Ask HN: Any free tools (other than pen/paper) to plan application architectures

9 pointsSfi8110y ago6 comments

6 comments

RichardZite10y ago

Sfi81OP10y ago

Thanks! it does looks interesting as I've tried using Prezi for this sort of stuff before but tripped on its "presentation focused" features whereas this seems more flexible

benlaud10y ago

Argouml http://argouml.tigris.org/

Sfi81OP10y ago

Thanks - haven't seen UML before & will take it out for a spin. In your experience does it have a big learning curve?

benlaud10y ago

UML is a design language, but not a computer language. You don't need to follow everything in the standard.

That will learn UML in an easier way.

codegeek10y ago

check out https://www.draw.io

They have many visual tools to draw up the app model/architecture.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse