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DFDs, WAS Re: 10 Things All Technical Writers Should Do
Subject:DFDs, WAS Re: 10 Things All Technical Writers Should Do From:Michael Strickland <Mstrickland -at- entriq -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 12 Nov 2004 11:54:09 -0800
Wow, I really thought the topic of DFDs was DTD* a week or two ago... I
might have to stab myself in the eye with a blunt pencil if this topic gets
re-DTD.....
[* Done To Death]
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-177489 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-177489 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Tony Markos
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 11:41 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: 10 Things All Technical Writers Should Do
Andrew:
Data Flow Diagrams are a tool for documenting manual and/or automated
procedure. In the Yourdon DFDing class that I took, the instructor made
clear the point that DFDs were first utlized over fifty years before the
computer was invented.
Back in the early 1890's there were no software functions, just people
performing tasks.
(FYI: Documenting procedure is a the major thing that TWs do.)
What makes DFDs so uniquely powerful at documenting procedure is that they
result in a natural partitioning of a system of interacting tasks. All
other procedural modeling techniques - including Use Cases - result in a
forced artifical partitioning of a system of interacting tasks.
Tony Markos
--- Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
Tony Markos <ajmarkos -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
Ed Yourdon (Data Flow Diagrams are for documenting
procedure) says that it is ninty-eight percent
(98%) of what needs to be done. Ninty-eight percent of anything is alot!
> Ed was talking about software development. Which is not the same as
> technical writing. While the two share some common practices, as
> virtually every writer likes to remind us - programming != writing.
>
> Andrew Plato
>
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