TE
TechEcho
Home24h TopNewestBestAskShowJobs
GitHubTwitter
Home

TechEcho

A tech news platform built with Next.js, providing global tech news and discussions.

GitHubTwitter

Home

HomeNewestBestAskShowJobs

Resources

HackerNews APIOriginal HackerNewsNext.js

© 2025 TechEcho. All rights reserved.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to PlantUML

150 pointsby bambambazookaalmost 5 years ago

10 comments

mdanielalmost 5 years ago
A hidden gem in the about page:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;real-world-plantuml.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;real-world-plantuml.com&#x2F;</a><p>which appears to be harvested from GitHub searches: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;yfuruyama&#x2F;real-world-plantuml&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;scraping&#x2F;scraping.js#L46-L50" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;yfuruyama&#x2F;real-world-plantuml&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master...</a>
ternaryoperatoralmost 5 years ago
For those unfamiliar with it, PlantUML enables you to create many types of diagrams (both UML and Visio-like) using code. Quick overview here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;about&#x2F;AboutPlantUML.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;about...</a>
vasergenalmost 5 years ago
I like plantUML, I really do. but I think more people will be attracted by it, if they improve design and colors, so it looks modern out of box without any hacking
评论 #23659203 未加载
评论 #23661374 未加载
评论 #23678171 未加载
评论 #23658290 未加载
bauerdalmost 5 years ago
&gt;It has a simple intuitive syntax<p>The code example reminds me of Latex: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;NetworkUsersMachines&#x2F;NetworkUsersMachines.html#id19" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;Netwo...</a>
评论 #23658881 未加载
mintycalmost 5 years ago
PlantUML has morphed into a two part tool. Its original purpose was to visualise various forms of UML diagrams.<p>More recently it has utilised its underlying graphviz to create a more general &#x27;graphviz on steroids&#x27; diagramming tool (referred to as the PlantUML standard library).<p>The original UML diagrams can be styled to look modern, but normally are shown in a default slightly old-fashioned and uninspiring visual style. Such a shame if that&#x27;s your impression.<p>As mdaniel posted, just a refresh of the colour scheme can modernise the look of UML diagrams<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;real-world-plantuml.com&#x2F;umls&#x2F;4831648155697152" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;real-world-plantuml.com&#x2F;umls&#x2F;4831648155697152</a><p>The second part covered by this hitchhikers guide shows a modern take on visualising component relationships.<p>Both parts allow visualisation as code, but otherwise have different purposes.<p>I wish we&#x27;d see more UML examples in a modern style.<p>(I&#x27;d also recommend MarkDeep for documentation. Includes these + markdown, math, doxygen integration and more)
dangalmost 5 years ago
If curious see also:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21426793" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21426793</a>
majkinetoralmost 5 years ago
PlantUML is simply awesome. There is no other langauge that supports so many diagramming features. I use it for more then half decade now on all projects. You can create interface mocks, timelines, mindmaps, gant charts, uml diagrams, graphs, OOP diagrams, whatever really, if it was invented, it is in plantUML for sure, or will be. Also, devs are VERY responsive, if you have a good idea, they will for sure implement it.<p>The only thing that is going on my nerves sometimes is that you can&#x27;t preciselly say position of elements and being happy with how concrete, albeit more complex diagram draws, is somewhat trial and error (you change direction, change arrow length here and there, change element order etc) but eventually you will make it likeable.<p>Other thing is that syntax differs a lot between diagrams and I always need to check out manual, no matter how much I use it, it just doesn&#x27;t stick for me. Thankfully, this is all very easy to do.<p>For those on Windows, I created chocolatey package [1] that installs all dependencies along with PDF manual and you can have it on your CI or local server as simply as `cinst plantuml`. There is also vscode and mkdocs plugins that are great so you can just insert plantuml diagram strait into markdown between other documentation (alternative is to prerender images which I also did in the past, and is very fast as plantuml regenerates only changed stuff). If you need mkdocs bundled with all this and other nice stuff, check out mm-docs [2].<p>I must honestly say that this is one of the best FOSS projects I encountered and that it definitelly needs more recognition and support.<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;majkinetor&#x2F;au-packages&#x2F;tree&#x2F;master&#x2F;plantuml" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;majkinetor&#x2F;au-packages&#x2F;tree&#x2F;master&#x2F;plantu...</a><p>[2]:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;majkinetor&#x2F;mm-docs-template" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;majkinetor&#x2F;mm-docs-template</a>
robadoralmost 5 years ago
Can someone explain the difference with graphviz?
评论 #23656713 未加载
评论 #23658974 未加载
评论 #23661500 未加载
a_calmost 5 years ago
Sort of tangential. While there are lots of tools to convert code into diagram, I wonder if there are tools to convert diagram into code with defined rules.<p>Am asking because there are lots of programming illiterate colleagues. By encoding the business rules into drawing rules, one could potentially delegate the business logic writing part to non-coding staff
评论 #23664592 未加载
评论 #23660134 未加载
评论 #23660019 未加载
csoursalmost 5 years ago
It took 3 clicks to get to the code. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;NetworkUsersMachines&#x2F;NetworkUsersMachines.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crashedmind.github.io&#x2F;PlantUMLHitchhikersGuide&#x2F;Netwo...</a>
评论 #23656095 未加载