#Sequence diagram ifelse software#
#Sequence diagram ifelse professional#
#Sequence diagram ifelse series#

The ability to envisage the final graphical outcome while drafting the text is a feature that many find invaluable. Users benefit from a more streamlined process with fewer requirements for time-consuming revisions and adjustments. The strong correlation between the text and the graphical result not only simplifies the crafting process but also significantly speeds it up. This harmonious correlation ensures that the textual drafts translate quite accurately into graphical diagrams, providing a cohesive and predictable design experience without unpleasant surprises in the final output. This well-thought-out design means that even those new to diagram creation find it easy to grasp the basics quickly and without hassle.Īnother distinguishing feature is the close resemblance between the textual representation and the graphical output. This ease of use is largely attributed to the user-friendly nature of its syntax, designed to be both intuitive and easy to remember.įirst and foremost, users appreciate the straightforward and intuitive syntax that PlantUML employs.

#Sequence diagram ifelse software#

If you'd like to learn more and see a few features I didn't cover, I recommend you check out Mermaid.js' sequence diagram documentation.Īnd finally, I'm not done exploring what modern software engineers can do with Mermaid.js so stay tuned for more content! Mermaid.Edit in Dokuwiki Edit in Asciidoc Edit in MarkdownSequence DiagramĬreating sequence diagrams with PlantUML is remarkably straightforward. Ultimately, I think Mermaid.js Sequence Diagrams are a good strategic tool for diagramming complex interactions or communicating complex concepts in a visual way in your documentation. Personally, I find Mermaid.js diagrams so convenient to use that I now find myself making sequence diagrams where I normally wouldn't have before due to the time and frustration required to build one. While sequence diagrams aren't necessarily beginner friendly, working with Mermaid.js sequence diagrams is exponentially less painful than trying to control a diagramming tool to generate and maintain these diagrams. Ultimately, I don't think I like this shorthand and instead prefer to use the activate / deactivate syntax for more readable sequence diagrams, but the option is there for you if you want it. Let's start with a simple sequence diagram representing a message from the client to the server and the server's response back.Įnter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode If you're curious about this, however, I do have an article and video on understanding JWT authentication. However, the focus of the article's text will be on the diagrams themselves, not the process of JWT authentication. Over the course of this article, we'll create and expand a sequence diagram to explain JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication. If you're curious about sequence diagrams in general, a good starting point might be Visual Paradigm's Guide to Sequence Diagrams. This can help explain complex logic and interactions with a technical diagram and identify areas of confusion or misunderstanding. Sequence diagrams represent systems and individuals as vertical columns and messages between these parts as horizontal lines that move across the various lanes to show how data flows between different pieces of the system.

#Sequence diagram ifelse series#

Mermaid.js is available in a variety of tools, but I most frequently use it in GitHub markdown files and in Polyglot Notebooks.įor those of you who haven't been exposed, sequence diagrams describe a series of messages in a sequence between different objects. It also means that the diagram source is easily version-controlled and anyone on your team can modify it without special tooling or licenses. This means your time is focused on actually writing the interaction logic instead of generating a visual.

#Sequence diagram ifelse professional#

With Mermaid.js you can write a few lines of text and use its JavaScript library to generate a professional sequence diagram like the one below:

Mermaid.js is the solution I needed 20 years ago. I distinctly remember working on sequence diagrams in my undergraduate computer science education and having so many issues trying to get the various boxes and arrows to look standard, rearrange shapes as I needed to expand the diagram, and generally focusing on anything but the logic the diagrams intended to create. Previously I've shown how Mermaid.js allows you to create entity relationship diagrams and class diagrams, but in this article we'll cover a far more complex diagram: the sequence diagram. I've been really enjoying seeing how Mermaid.js lets you generate technical diagrams from simple markdown.