I would like to generate diagrams similar to this, but I don't have a clue what to look for.
That's a Syntax Diagram.
Syntax diagrams (or railroad diagrams) are a way to represent a
context-free grammar.
Links:
How to read syntax diagrams
Many examples
Creating syntax diagrams
These are called syntax diagrams or railroad diagrams for showing context free grammar
There is a tool which can convert BNF notation to railroad diagrams
Related
I am totally new for UML and what to learn it. I have searched for many resources to learn UML including videos, tutorials etc but none of them are illustrative. The word illustrative means here is resources from which I can learn basics of UML notations, how to merge them to draw diagram, how to construct various diagrams, efficient and free tools to develop make diagrams.
It will be very helpful to suggest any book or tutorial which can help to learn UML efficiently.
This one is old but a good one for me : UML 2, Fowler
It contains the minimum needed and is simple.
I was looking at some syntax diagrams for SQLite and was wondering if they could be used to describe all languages (like Python, C++, etc.)?
http://www.sqlite.org/lang_createtable.html
From some CS classes I took years ago I remember groups of languages the could be described by DFA and what not, but don't remember many details and think this is probably different anyways.
Any clarity would be appreciated.
You wouldn't usually call them "flow charts", but "syntax diagrams" (as you did) or "railroad diagrams". See the Wikipedia article for details, and feel free to use my Railroad Diagram Generator for generating them from an EBNF grammar.
A DFA corresponds to regular grammars, whereas EBNF and syntax diagrams describe context free grammars. These are different levels of the Chomsky hierarchy, which is the basic framework for classifying formal grammars.
I have seen a lot of these diagrams in some help files and src documentation
What are they called? Are there any other (for same purpose) known diagrams?
Img source : http://www.sqlite.org/images/syntax/insert-stmt.gif
They are called "railroad diagrams", because of their resemblance to a railroad track. They were often used to describe the grammar of older languages, before more formal grammars became routinely used. The problem with them is you can't easily feed them into tools like parser generators, or grammar checkers, so they are not used so much these days.
They are called syntax diagrams.
How the order of the messages is modeled in UML 2.0 sequence diagrams?
I've browsed the UML 2.2 Superstructure specification and the only structure I found to model order is the GeneralOrdering class. I'm modeling my system with Papyrus, but it doesn't insert message ordering information automatically, so I miss guidelines on the use of this class.
I had the idea to test other tools and check the XMI output, but those that exported the sequence diagram properly used proprietary extensions to model message order. I tried Umodel, astah*, Enterprise Architect, PowerDesigner, Software Ideas Modeler and Visual Paradigm.
Any hint?
Don't use Papyrus with the sequence diagram because it doesn't really work well. It is impossible to create a diagram with this tool. The other tools you mentioned are a lot better.
After studing all the market tools my conclusions are:
The best sequence diagram on the market is RSA IBM.
The best Class diagram is Omondo EclipseUML.
The best usecase diagram is RSA and Visual Paragdigm.
By the way the xmi model of the sequence diagram has never been a success and is really a mess. Except the sequence diagram all the other diagrams at really well-done at model/xmi by the OMG specification of UML 2.3.
Really good specification but sequence diagram was and is still a misery !! s
I asked the same question in Eclipse Papyrus's forum, where I got the following answer:
"I'm not sure about the specifics of Papyrus, but in the UML specification, the 'fragments' relationship from Interaction to InteractionFragment is ordered (Figure 14.3), so that determines the order of the messages."
Follow this link for the full message.
UML classdiagrams are a standard graphical notation to describe classes and their relationships.
Is there a standard textual notation (DSL) to describe the same? Don't say XMI or EMF;-)
I think you could do that with Corba IDL and use Interfaces for classes, but this is somehow too much on the Corba side. You could use Java Interfaces, but this is too Java.
Background of my question is writing generators. I think it is easier to write a generator based on the syntax tree of a DSL than to parse a graphical notation. A graphical notation first has to be translated into a syntax tree (that would be the same you'd get from the corresponding DSL). I think translating a graphical notation into the syntax tree is harder than to translate a DSL (where you can use ANTLR).
You've got the answer already, but I'd like to clarify. There is a standard notation, it's called HUTN, and nobody uses it.
Check this complete list of textual notations to describe UML models. Btw, the reasons to create one of these tools (in particular TextUML) can be find here.
It is no coincidence that UML separates abstract and concrete syntax.
Tying up code generation to a user-facing notation is a bad idea. Tools (code generators) and people (modelers) have totally distinct needs, so no single syntax can serve both audiences well. Not to mention you lose the ability of applying the same code generator to models created using different notations.
TextUML is a concrete syntax tailored to modelers. XMI is a much better notation for tools, and the UML2 object model makes it very easy to handle.
Rafael
http://abstratt.com/blog
No standard notation to my knowledge but a good summary of options here.
hth.