UML Diagrams

What is everyone using to draw the diagrams required in Ass 1?

I've tried Dia, it is OK for basic UML. should be enough for our purposes.

I am more familiar with Visio which has it's "quirks". I do hope Microsoft decides to redo Visio from scratch or something because Visio isn't very good.

Umbrello is rather nice, unfortunately it isn't easy to get to run on Windows but freely available on Linux. Very good for code generation.

If you have enough money lying around you could try to get Rational Rose. Prices start at R 18 542.

Cobus Neethling

Dia takes a bit of fighting. For instance it thinks DEL means "obliterate this object" when you're correcting text. Dia only understands the Backspace key. I use CTRL-Z quite a lot.

Umbrello? Must download that from the repositories.

Do you rate BOUML at all? It has a rather long manual for present purposes, and would appear to do more than I really need of it. For the purposes of passing COS and INF subjects requiring UML diagrams, something simpler is probably better. So it's back to Dia for me.

Anyone doing the INF2x modules gets a "free" Visio with the book. Haven't tried mine out. Thought I'd time the 60 day trial to run out nearer the end of the year than at the beginning.

NetBeans. Its free. It can generate code from uml. It can generate uml from code.

I'm using Dia... my ctrl+z keys are getting worn out hehehe.

meh, Doesn't wanna install the plugin on the PHP netbeans. blegh

FWIW, I'm using ArgoUML. Java-based, so should be platform-agnostic too (I'm using it on Windows).

I used to have access to Enterprise Architect when I were with my previous company, which is quite brilliant and way cheaper than Rose. Now I am using ArgoUML and it is frustrating the shit out of me. I am thinking to buy my own copy of EA. But not just for this. I am a sort of freelance architect now, so it might be worth the investment.

I am a bit pissed of with the modeling features available in Eclipse. How usable are the UML tools in Netbeans. Might be worth the download just for that?

I need a hammer and I need it fast.

I first installed Visio 2 years back, didnt think much of it and never used it, and then uninstalled it. Just this past week I have installed it again and this time learnt about some of its better hidden features. I like the fact that you can create custom stencils for just about any diagram type, which is a feature that I dont think would exist in other packages. The big downside is that it is a general drawing package that does not have enough ability out the box to create a code framework from UML and vice versa. It is possible through doing some macro work behind the scenes. In fact, with a good add-in, or more time on my hands, I could get customize it very nicely to do things the way I like doing them.

Last night I used Visual Paradigm community edition. Looks promising. With Argo I cant seem to pull a class from the class diagram onto a sequence diagram. If you know how, then please let me know.