the.com/flowchart
A map for decisions, drawn by someone who already knew the answer.
means A diagram that uses boxes and arrows to lay out the steps and decision points of a process from start to finish.
from A compound of 'flow' (the movement or progression of something) and 'chart' (a map or graphic display of information), 'chart' itself tracing back through French 'carte' to Latin 'charta,' meaning a sheet of papyrus or paper. The flowchart as a technique emerged in the early 20th century among industrial engineers mapping manufacturing processes, then was adopted by computer programmers in the mid-1900s to sketch the logic of a program before writing code — boxes for steps, diamonds for decisions, arrows showing the flow.
- origin
- Industrial engineers used it before programmers stole it
- shape rule
- Diamonds mean decisions, rectangles mean no thinking required
- dirty secret
- Often drawn after the code, to justify it
- infinite loop
- Every bad meeting is one with no exit arrow