
Ask HN: do you use ER diagrams or UML? - arisAlexis
Hi,<p>when you design a database for a startup that is maybe used by 2-3 developers, do you use ER diagrams and in detail like logical,physical etc or UML<p>or<p>do you try to be quick and draw a design so that the rest know approximately whats going on and then go with viewing the sql schema directly from mysql workbench or whatever.
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pd_drawexpress
I generally do high level domain modeling first to get some ideas of the
overall picture. I then tackle each components separately based on their
complexity. Like ER for data, sequence for communication, class for structure.
Overall, nothing too details since it's most likely will get change at some
points but it is a good starting place. If you are interested take a look at
an app I made for Android and IOS called DrawExpress. I made it to help me
with drawing UML and ER quickly. It based mostly on gestures for effeciency
although may take time to get use to that style. You can check out the free
lite version first

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drawexpres...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.drawexpress.lite)
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawexpress-diagram-
lite/id6...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drawexpress-diagram-
lite/id687459234?ls=1&mt=8)

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thenerdfiles
I use
[http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Protege](http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Protege)
to create a Base Ontology first. It can export to UML with the right tweaks
and plugins.

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mark_l_watson
I wrote a book on UML years ago but now, the only type of diagram I use at all
frequently is sequence diagrams.

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alok-g
Interesting. Could you explain more about why you do not find UML as useful?
Do you use some alternative now for design and documentation?

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collyw
I never find class diagrams so useful, especially now that I use a framework
(Django).

ER diagrams on the other hand work really well to model the data for the
database, and maps pretty easily back to SQL code.

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ScottWhigham
I'm an ERD user from before there was UML so ERD for me. I suspect lots of the
old timers (40+) are that way.

