I am looking for a tool that will let me work on a dependency graph. (I want this for my personal tasks, like a to do list.) Like, let's say I have task 1, 2 and 3. Then maybe task 1 is needed for task 2, and task 1 is partially needed for task 3, and task 2 is needed for task 3, etc. I should be able to edit easily, change relations between tasks easily, and have a nice graphical view of the graph.
Do you know of anything like that?
12 Answers
How about Graphviz? It actually allows you to create a graph in text, and it handles the visualization for you:
This is a graph of the UNIX family tree
Here is the code that generates it:
/* courtesy Ian Darwin and Geoff Collyer, Softquad Inc. */
digraph unix { size="6,6"; node [color=lightblue2, style=filled]; "5th Edition" -> "6th Edition"; "5th Edition" -> "PWB 1.0"; "6th Edition" -> "LSX"; "6th Edition" -> "1 BSD"; "6th Edition" -> "Mini Unix"; "6th Edition" -> "Wollongong"; "6th Edition" -> "Interdata"; "Interdata" -> "Unix/TS 3.0"; "Interdata" -> "PWB 2.0"; "Interdata" -> "7th Edition"; "7th Edition" -> "8th Edition"; "7th Edition" -> "32V"; "7th Edition" -> "V7M"; "7th Edition" -> "Ultrix-11"; "7th Edition" -> "Xenix"; "7th Edition" -> "UniPlus+"; "V7M" -> "Ultrix-11"; "8th Edition" -> "9th Edition"; "1 BSD" -> "2 BSD"; "2 BSD" -> "2.8 BSD"; "2.8 BSD" -> "Ultrix-11"; "2.8 BSD" -> "2.9 BSD"; "32V" -> "3 BSD"; "3 BSD" -> "4 BSD"; "4 BSD" -> "4.1 BSD"; "4.1 BSD" -> "4.2 BSD"; "4.1 BSD" -> "2.8 BSD"; "4.1 BSD" -> "8th Edition"; "4.2 BSD" -> "4.3 BSD"; "4.2 BSD" -> "Ultrix-32"; "PWB 1.0" -> "PWB 1.2"; "PWB 1.0" -> "USG 1.0"; "PWB 1.2" -> "PWB 2.0"; "USG 1.0" -> "CB Unix 1"; "USG 1.0" -> "USG 2.0"; "CB Unix 1" -> "CB Unix 2"; "CB Unix 2" -> "CB Unix 3"; "CB Unix 3" -> "Unix/TS++"; "CB Unix 3" -> "PDP-11 Sys V"; "USG 2.0" -> "USG 3.0"; "USG 3.0" -> "Unix/TS 3.0"; "PWB 2.0" -> "Unix/TS 3.0"; "Unix/TS 1.0" -> "Unix/TS 3.0"; "Unix/TS 3.0" -> "TS 4.0"; "Unix/TS++" -> "TS 4.0"; "CB Unix 3" -> "TS 4.0"; "TS 4.0" -> "System V.0"; "System V.0" -> "System V.2"; "System V.2" -> "System V.3";
}As you can see, the syntax is easy to add on to, you could easily use it as a skeleton for your own:
digraph workingcomputer { size="6,6"; node [color=lightblue2, style=filled]; "Computer" -> "Hardware"; "Hardware" -> "Hard Drive"; "Hardware" -> "CPU"; "Hardware" -> "Memory"; "Hardware" -> "Motherboard"; "Hardware" -> "Power Supply"; "Hardware" -> "GPU";
/* And so on.... */
}draw.io is an open source graph editor webapp with very convenient gui features. It is also open source, and can be downloaded and run locally. You can give it a try here.
VYM (view your mind) is a handy little mindmapping program that is cross platform, and is accessible through the package manager on many Linux distros (e.g. yum install vym, apt-get install vym). It is relatively limited on the graph-editing features.
FreeMIND Another mindmapping graph tool, similar to VYM (I don't know which is better, haven't tried them for years.)
Dia was a decent tool, but development halted years ago.
