Another Word For It Patrick Durusau on Topic Maps and Semantic Diversity

February 27, 2015

Have You Tried DRAKON Comrade? (Russian Space Program Specification Language)

Filed under: Flowchart,Graphics,Visualization — Patrick Durusau @ 5:04 pm

DRAKON

From the webpage:

DRAKON is a visual language for specifications from the Russian space program. DRAKON is used for capturing requirements and building software that controls spacecraft.

The rules of DRAKON are optimized to ensure easy understanding by human beings.

DRAKON is gaining popularity in other areas beyond software, such as medical textbooks. The purpose of DRAKON is to represent any knowledge that explains how to accomplish a goal.


DRAKON Editor is a free tool for authoring DRAKON flowcharts. It also supports sequence diagrams, entity-relationship and class diagrams.

With DRAKON Editor, you can quickly draw diagrams for:

  • software requirements and specifications;
  • documenting existing software systems;
  • business processes;
  • procedures and rules;
  • any other information that tells “how to do something”.

DRAKON Editor runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

The user interface of DRAKON Editor is extremely simple and straightforward.

Software developers can build real programs with DRAKON Editor. Source code can be generated in several programming languages, including Java, Processing.org, D, C#, C/C++ (with Qt support), Python, Tcl, Javascript, Lua, Erlang, AutoHotkey and Verilog

I note with amusement that the DRAKON editor has no “save” button. Rest easy! DRAKON saves all input automatically, removing the need for a “save” button. About time!

Download DRAKON editor.

I am in the middle of an upgrade so look for sample images next week.

October 20, 2012

DRAKON-Erlang: Visual Functional Programming

Filed under: Erlang,Flowchart,Functional Programming,Graphics,Visualization — Patrick Durusau @ 10:16 am

DRAKON-Erlang: Visual Functional Programming

DRAKON is a visual programming language developed for the Buran Space Project.

I won’t repeat the surplus of adjectives used to describe DRAKON. Its long term use in the Russian space program is enough to recommend review of its visual techniques.

The DRAKO-Erlang project is an effort to combine DRAKON as a flow language/representation with Erlang.

A graphical notation for topic maps never caught on and with the rise of big data, visual representation of merging algorithms could be quite useful.

I am not suggesting DRAKON-Erlang as a solution to those issues but as a data point to take into account.

Others?

June 24, 2012

Pulp Fiction presented in chronological order

Filed under: Flowchart,Humor — Patrick Durusau @ 4:33 pm

Pulp Fiction presented in chronological order

Nathan Yau reports:

Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction twists and turns through plot lines and time. Designer Noah Smith untangled the story and put it in a linear flowchart.

Just the sort of thing you will need if you want to experiment with topic mapping “Pulp Fiction.”

And if not that, certainly an amusing way to begin the week.

Makes me wonder what untangling Downton Abbey would take?

June 11, 2012

Flowchart: Connections in Stephen King novels

Filed under: Flowchart,Humor,Mapping — Patrick Durusau @ 4:24 pm

Flowchart: Connections in Stephen King novels by Nathan Yau.

For your modeling exercise and amusement, a flowchart of connections in Stephen King novels (excluding the Dark Tower series). I not sure what impact excluding the Dark Tower series has on the flowchart. If you discover it, please report back.

Topic map and other semantic modeling groups could use this flowchart as the answer to Google employment questions. 😉

Speaking of modeling, I wonder how many degrees of separation there are between characters in novels?

And how would they be connected? Family names, places of employment, physical locations, perhaps even fictional connections?

That could be an interesting mapping exercise.

Powered by WordPress