Wanted: a tool to convert Java code to Visio flowcharts

[Jonathan Sachs]

Searching the Web, I found several tools that are claimed to perform
this task:

http://www.fatesoft.com/s2f/
http://www.aivosto.com/visustin.html
http://www.gold-software.com/download4950.html
http://www.reliableunion.com/
http://www.brothersoft.com/Software_Developer_Compilers_and_IDEs_SourceCode2Flowchart_24949.html

I want to ask whether anyone can recommend (or warn against) any of
these tools, or others like them.

The tool I choose must be reliable and accurate, compatible with
current Java specifications, and available for Microsoft Windows. It
must be able to generate ANSI standard flowcharts: standard shapes, no
colors, no curvy arrows, etc. I would prefer to pay no more than about
$100, but I will probably pay whatever I must to get a tool that works
well.

WHY DO I WANT FLOWCHARTS, ANYWAY?

I'm sure some of you will want to know, so I'll explain it now.

As a programmer, I stopped using flowcharts decades ago. I know all
the arguments against them, and agree with most.

But I'm not a programmer any more. I'm an ex-programmer, about to
begin work as a patent attorney. In my new career I will be preparing
patent applications for computer programs, many of them written in
Java.

It happens that flowcharts are the U.S. Patent Office's preferred
medium for describing program logic. Furthermore, I understand that
some foreign patent offices do not merely prefer flowcharts, but
require them.

So this is not really a question of why I want flowcharts; I do not
have a choice.

My email address is LLM041103 at earthlink dot net.

 

[Hal Rosser]

You might want to try Poseidon for UML -
or
Visual Paradigm

I would think Flowcharts would not be as useful as UML diagrams, use case
diagrams, etc for OO program design.

Flowcharts lend themselves more to languages like Cobol, or C (or other
'procedural' languages).
But, I guess you COULD do everything in one class in the main method....

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

You might want to try Poseidon for UML - or Visual Paradigm

Absolutely true, but as I explained, this is not about what is useful
for design work, but what is required for an entirely different
purpose.

I would think Flowcharts would not be as useful as UML diagrams, use case
diagrams, etc for OO program design.

Data structures as such are not patentable, and in most cases can be
described quite generally. A procedural description is all I really
need (or will be allowed) to present. The flowchart is an adequate
tool for that purpose, although a very clumsy one.

My email address is LLM041103 at earthlink dot net.

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

You might want to try Poseidon for UML - or Visual Paradigm

Are you sure that these products produce flowcharts? I searched for
information both on their web sites and over the Web at large, and I
could not find any mention of that.

My email address is LLM041103 at earthlink dot net.