Guides
Page 26 of 33. Practical, honest writing on consolidating your stack, running client work end to end, and getting more done with fewer tools.
The lines in a class diagram carry as much meaning as the boxes. This guide explains every relationship type, the notation for each, and simple tests for choosing the right one.
UML has fourteen diagram types split into two families: structural diagrams for what a system is, and behavioral diagrams for what it does. This guide maps them all and helps you pick.
Deployment diagrams show where software actually runs: the physical nodes, the artifacts deployed on them, and the connections between them. This guide covers nodes, artifacts, and modern cloud topologies.
Component diagrams show how a system decomposes into replaceable parts and the interfaces they expose and consume. This guide covers components, ball-and-socket interfaces, ports, and dependencies.
State machine diagrams model how an object moves between states in response to events. This guide covers states, transitions, guards, entry and exit actions, and nested composite states.
Activity diagrams model workflows and business processes with the rigor of UML. This guide covers actions, decisions, concurrency with forks and joins, and swimlanes for responsibility.
A use case diagram maps who uses a system and what they use it to do. This guide covers actors, use cases, boundaries, and the include and extend relationships that trip people up.
Sequence diagrams show how objects collaborate over time by exchanging messages. This guide covers lifelines, message types, activation, and the fragments that model real control flow.
The class diagram is the most useful diagram in UML. This guide covers everything on the box, every line between boxes, and how to draw one that clarifies rather than clutters.
UML is a shared visual language for describing software before you build it. This guide covers what it is really for, all 14 diagram types, and how to use the handful that earn their keep.
The Mermaid snippets you look up again and again, collected in one quick reference across every major diagram type.
Mermaid inside Markdown means diagrams that live in your docs and update with a text edit. Here is how to use it across the big platforms.
You wrote some Mermaid: now how do you see it? Here is every practical way to render Mermaid diagrams, from GitHub to your own website.
Mermaid and PlantUML are the two heavyweights of diagram-as-code. Here is an honest comparison to help you pick the right one.
Diagram-as-code treats diagrams like source: written in text, versioned in Git, reviewed in pull requests, and never out of date.
Typing beats dragging for a lot of diagrams. Here is the full landscape of tools that turn text into diagrams, and how to pick one.
A state diagram shows the states something can be in and how it moves between them. Mermaid makes state machines quick to write and revise.
A gantt chart shows a project's tasks across a timeline. Mermaid lets you write one in text and update it as fast as the plan changes.
Entity-relationship diagrams model database structure. Mermaid lets you write them in text and keep them versioned next to your schema.
Class diagrams model the structure of object-oriented code. Mermaid lets you write them in text and keep them next to the code they describe.
Everything you need to write Mermaid flowcharts: every node shape, arrow style, and layout option, with real syntax you can paste and adapt.
Sequence diagrams show how parts of a system talk to each other over time. Mermaid makes them fast to write and easy to keep current.
Mermaid turns plain text into diagrams. Write a few lines of readable syntax and get a flowchart, sequence diagram, or gantt chart: no dragging boxes.
A process flow diagram and a flowchart share a name and a family, but they answer different questions at different levels of detail.
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