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If you're really wanting to do charting for programming then you probably want to do UML. ArgoUML is Java based and the recent versions work pretty good.

Just want to mention ArgoUML, a Opensource UML tool. Then I wanted to ask, if anyone of you has already worked with UML in combination with PHP and MySQL. I've just started modelling my database along the UML profile for data modelling and like it so far. I hope to generate some code from it, but there are still quite a few sources to write...

Rational is expensive. Too expensive for Opensource projects as an example. Check ArgoUML.

Would you mind to add ArgoUML to your list? Losts of nice folks using Java voluntarily for a big Opensource project. Uses AWT, Swing, etc. and is actually usable! (No, not too slow).

Poseiden for UML from gentleware is a commercial tool that evolved from ArgoUML. There is a free version (Community Edition) of Poseidon that is very effective for beginning users.

Sorry, but I'm only aware of 2 tutorials on UML and they are both available only in German. One is from a school here and the other is from a institute for experimental software engineering.

The good news is, that several people are working on documentation for ArgoUML now. And this includes a nice manual, mainly written by Jeremy Bennett. Look at the argo-dev mailing list for the latest infos... :-)

Many APIs use reflection as a convenient replacement for the lack of method pointers - it is so much easier to use a method name and a object reference than creating a new (inner) class for each method.

Pointers don't exist in Java for a reason. Are pointers evil? Of course not, they're great! But they have some serious drawbacks, so Java chose to avoid them to improve stability and security.

That there are people who are fed up with writing Classname.methodname for each invocation of a static method so they use inheritance to get rid of it.

You either have to write 20 or more characters for each invocation, which can make complicated code unreadable and is annoying to type, or you write wrappers for each static method in your own class, or you inherit from the class that is providing the static methods.

Many would argue that forcing the programmer to put the explicit "class.method()" instead of just "method()" in their code makes it clearer to later maintainers exactly what's being called.

Just look at the Jakarta stuff.

The Argonauts (the ArgoUML project members) are always looking for contributions and your patch should make it in the next release, if it's of any use. Just nice folks there, and if you have any concept of UML and/or Java, you're always welcome...
http://www.argouml.org

It seems like everyone is blaming Collab.nets marketing for the failure of sourceXchange. I have been involved in two sXc projects, one as a developer, on as a peer reviewer. While the project I did as developer (RDBMS support for ArgoUML) went quite well in terms of speed, the second, where I was peer reviewer, was never really completed. Both projects were sponsored by Collab.net, so this was actually some kind of marketing, producing more active projects. But unfortunetaly I was the only one who was pushing these projects, there was little feedback and pressure from Collab.net as organizer (sXc) or Collab.net as sponsor. So in the end it was me as peer reviewer who kept the second project alive, since the developer himself was quite frustrated not getting feedback.
I really hoped that sXc would have been a success, and I am far from saying that it's all just Collab.nets fault, I admire them for their courage and power to try this. Please just don't say it's all just marketing failure, it would have needed more active developers and altogether a more active community.

One: memory is dirt cheap right now. seriously. a 128mb stick of pc100 is like $40 where I live. see pricewatch.com for more US prices. If you live somewhere else I don't know if this point would be relevant. So you could probably at least approach the "ok performance" range, especially if you have family that would be sympathetic for your school-related need of an upgrade.

Two: argoUML, a GPLd and reasonably decent java UML program. (argouml.org) It performs just fine on my machine (450mhz, 128 mb of pc100 ram).

Three: TCM, the toolkit for conceptual modelling. Haven't played with it much but it looks pretty nifty. Also it isn't in Java. Again it runs fine on my machine. Does stuff besides UML too, I'm new to this whole modeling/specifying bit, so some of the functionality didn't make much sense to me.

There are opensource projects underway that let you model your app without spending $$$$ before. Take a look at ArgoUML. Get yourself a book like Martin Fowler's "UML distilled".

I think he also missed the point what software engineering is all about. Turning software development from a form of art into a engineering discipline. I think he mixes software engineers and programmers througout the article. Now that good and free tools like ArgoUML are available, there no good excuse anymore to avoid modelling (or planning in general). My answer to this article would be: don't give your employees toys, but give them tools! (and make them use them of course.)

It supports UML class diagrams, export to gifs (nice for publishing your designs on the project web page), code generation, todo-lists and some experimental cognitive stuff that analyzes your design decisions and provide feedback on your choices. I don't trust the AI stuff too much (if a machine is better at object-oriented design than I am, then for how long will I have a job?) but the rest is useful.

Check it out at argouml.org.

They also recently joined the Tigris team which seem to produce some other nice tools, but I haven't looked into them.