[erlang-questions] Visual Erlang notation v0.1.0 - feedback request

[Lloyd R. Prentice]

It would be great to see the popular web servers and frameworks visually documented.

Appreciate your thoughtful work.

LRP

Sent from my iPad

> On May 5, 2014, at 4:32 AM, Torben Hoffmann <torben.hoffmann@REDACTED> wrote:
> 
> 
> Garrett Smith writes:
> 
>> Hi Torben,
>> 
>> On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 2:21 AM, Torben Hoffmann
>> <torben.hoffmann@REDACTED> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> As I have mentioned before I have been working on a visual notation for Erlang and
>>> although it is not complete yet I have received requests to release it anyway, so
>>> here goes...
>>> 
>>> https://github.com/esl/visual_erlang
>>> 
>>> One extra thing missing from the to-do list is state data for processes.
>>> 
>>> I would like some feedback on how you feel the abstraction level is.
>>> The purpose of Visual Erlang is not to be able to specify every little detail of what
>>> happens in an Erlang program, but to give a way to describe the architecture.
>> 
>> Love this!
>> 
> Thanks!
> 
>> My hopefully constructive input though... I think you ought to be
>> easier on folks who don't use fancy graphics editors :)
>> 
> That's the first time I have heard LaTeX being called a fancy graphics editor ;-)
> 
>> I (and the folks I work with) tend to use Google presentations to put
>> together visual diagrams. It's quite a handy program. Unfortunately
>> you can't do a few things that you require:
>> 
>> - Squiggly lines
>> - Double lines
>> 
>> But you can do:
>> 
>> - Lots of different line endings (circles, squares, triangles)
>> - Dashed lines
>> - Dash-dotted lines
>> - Thick and thin lines
>> 
>> Unless you have a religious point of view when it comes to squiggles
>> (I hear this is a thing) I'd recommend tweaking the symbols to widen
>> the tent for drawing tools :)
>> 
> I'm not religious about squiggles, but I had a reason for using squiggles for message
> passing:
> I want to encourage using module APIs to send messages around. It is rare that you
> need to send messages directly, so the symbol for that should stand out and the easy
> straight line be used for calling an API function.
> 
> But I am very open to finding ways to make this distinction come out, so perhaps one
> could use dashed lines for message passing?
> 
> Another criteria is that it should be easy to write the Visual Erlang diagrams on a
> whiteboard. I find squiggles easier than dashed lines, but that could be my
> preference - dashed lines are not impossible.
> Thick and thin lines are really hard on a whiteboard.
> 
> I will ponder a bit over this in conjunction with some of the other feedback, so
> please follow this thread!
> 
>> I also recommend putting together some PNGs and including them as
>> images in the README so people can see what's going on at a glance
>> from the github page without downloading the PDF. But this a nice to
>> have.
>> 
> I didn't know that one could include PNGs in the README on github - do you have an
> example of how this is done?
> Very cool idea!
> 
>> Can't wait for the Patterns In Erlang book! (But who's in the GoF?)
>> 
> So far it is only a dynamic duo: Jesper and me.
> 
> Gang of anything sounds so last century - need to find something cooler. Dynamic duo
> also has an oldish feel to it, mind you ;-)
> 
> We will start with getting Erlang patterns documented - if it turns into something
> that people want in book form it might happen.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback!
> Torben
> 
>> Garrett
> 
> 
> -- 
> Torben Hoffmann
> CTO
> Erlang Solutions Ltd.
> Tel: +45 25 14 05 38
> http://www.erlang-solutions.com
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