I’m currently going through Miro Samek’s book on UML state machines for C and C++. The state diagrams featured are quite impressive and well designed. I’ve been curious about what software or tool he utilized for making these diagrams.
They possess a uniform style, characterized by rounded rectangles for the states, clear arrow transitions, and well-organized formatting for state labels and transition conditions. They certainly appear to go beyond the capabilities of standard drawing applications.
Does anyone have information on the specific software Samek used for these state chart diagrams? I aim to create similar diagrams for my project documentation and would be keen to use the same tool if available.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Samek used Microsoft Visio for those state diagrams in his book. The polished look and consistent formatting you’re seeing is classic Visio UML templates from back then. Visio’s great for state chart notation - it’s got those rounded rectangles and clean arrows you mentioned. I’ve used it for similar docs and the results look really professional, though you’ll need some time to figure out all the formatting options. If you want something similar but easier to learn, Lucidchart handles UML state diagrams really well too.
Those diagrams look way too clean and consistent to be manual work. He probably started with Visio or Rational Rose, but maintaining that formatting across multiple diagrams by hand? No way - that’s a nightmare.
I’ve been there with technical docs. Started with traditional UML tools, then spent hours updating diagrams every time requirements changed. Now I just automate everything.
I set up workflows that generate state diagrams straight from my code or spec files. Logic changes? Diagrams update automatically. No more mismatched versions between docs and implementation.
You can build something that takes your state machine definitions and spits out polished diagrams in whatever format you want. Perfect consistency because it’s templated, and your docs never go stale.
This saved me weeks on my last project. Setup takes time upfront, but the payoff is massive when you’re dealing with complex state machines.
Check out https://latenode.com for building these automated documentation workflows.
i think rational rose was the tool back then, since the book’s kinda old. nowadays, draw.io or enterprise architect seems to be popular for sleek diagrams like those. hope that helps!
I think Samek mentioned in an interview that he used specialized UML modeling software from the early 2000s. The diagrams in his book have that super clean, professional look - definitely not something you’d get from basic drawing software. Pretty sure he used IBM Rational Rose or similar enterprise UML tools. That’d explain why the styling’s so consistent and the UML notation is spot-on. Those tools were built specifically for state machine modeling and had templates that created exactly that polished look. If you want to recreate that style now, check out PlantUML or StarUML - they’ll give you similarly professional state diagrams with proper UML compliance.