Re: GNOME for kids

[jim@mercury.laney.edu]

Hi *,

I saw another thing they were doing, gnome-diagram, and saw that maybe it 
could support things like Booch's Universal Modeling Language (UML).

I sent a reply to the url contained in the note this is a reply to, and it
said:

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Message-Id: <199906211725.MAA26984@www.linuxtoday.com>
To: jim@laney.edu
From: jim@laney.edu (Jim Lynch)
Subject: LT Talkback: gnome-diagram: UML question

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This was posted as a talkback to Linux Today
at http://linuxtoday.com/stories/6953.html
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Will gnome-diagram have support for combined objects having certain
properties (like presence and/or degree of elasticity between pieces)
some of which can be set in a dialog box (which itself is a part of
the object type specification), and all of which can be inherited by
another kind of object?

For example... I make an object that has a circle and a boxed
title. There is a UML meaning for this; I forgot exactly what. Anyway,
there is another UML symbol that is the same thing, except the circle
border is dotted instead of solid.

Another example: A UML "class" is represented by a rectangle with
horizontal lines inside to divide up the name from the attributes from
the operations from the strategy/purpose/tasks section. Another kind
of class doesn't have the fourth section, and yet another, called an
"active class", has thicker, darker borders.

If I can do something in the -application- to derive-and-modify as
outlined above, this might support UML quite well. Writing and
debugging code for this purpose is -not- what I would prefer, because
I'm -already- writing code supposedly: for the application I'm
writing.

There is already something called "dia" which already has support for
some UML objects. But guess what? I have to write c++ code for the new
classes. Not for everyone; I was gonna do it :) But that would have
meant I would have been using my work bench and building it at the
same time, and so I dropped it.

-Jim

P.S: this idea would go well with any OOPized drawing program with
some work. Heck, maybe even dia could stand similar mods... I'll try
to find and talk with them. If you plan on doing any kind of special
symbol support, look at dia; they did get a good start.

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-Jim