C4-PlantUML VS c4-notation

Compare C4-PlantUML vs c4-notation and see what are their differences.

C4-PlantUML

C4-PlantUML combines the benefits of PlantUML and the C4 model for providing a simple way of describing and communicate software architectures (by RicardoNiepel)

c4-notation

Technical resources for using the C4 model for visualizing software architecture. (by 1and1)
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C4-PlantUML c4-notation
23 125
5,948 25
2.0% -
7.1 10.0
6 days ago over 4 years ago
PlantUML
MIT License Apache License 2.0
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

C4-PlantUML

Posts with mentions or reviews of C4-PlantUML. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-11-02.

c4-notation

Posts with mentions or reviews of c4-notation. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-03-07.
  • Show HN: Flyde – an open-source visual programming language
    12 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 7 Mar 2024
    What you are describing sounds a lot like C4: https://c4model.com/
  • A View on Functional Software Architecture
    5 projects | dev.to | 10 Dec 2023
    There a various standards for documenting software architecture, like arc42 or C4. While useful and somewhat well-known (there is certainly a correlation here), here architecture documentation can be further simplified, particularly due to the self-similarity of project and component. Following is a small template, that can also serve as a project's and component's README:
  • Inkscape Cloud Architect
    4 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 19 Oct 2023
    I would suggest that if your architecture diagrams are a bunch of icons provided by AWS/Azure/GCP with lines pointing at each other... you are doing it wrong.

    The 'what does this box do for my system' is vastly more important than the 'which in vogue offering from my cloud provider implements it'.

    I highly suggest folks take a look at the C4 Model: https://c4model.com/

  • Architecture diagrams enable better conversations
    11 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 22 Aug 2023
    You probably want https://c4model.com/ which explains what a C4 architecture diagram is. (See the first footnote in the article.)
  • Sequence diagrams, the only good thing UML brought to software development
    6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 15 Jun 2023
    > Class, component, package, activity and state machine diagrams are all useful ways to model the structure and behavior of a system visually

    They're not bad, but the C4 model is a much better approach to high level modelling (while you can still use class diagrams on the lowest level). https://c4model.com/

    6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 15 Jun 2023
    > Comprehensibility > Comprehensiveness #

    > The most common failure mode for sequence diagrams is over-complication. (This also is the failure mode for most diagrams, as I wrote in an article on flow charts).

    Agreed.

    UML – with the goal of being a graphical language for _complete_ specification of a system (both for code generation as well as to have diagrams generated from code introspection) – has to be exhaustive, therefore fails at showing the big picture.

    Use of UML that could accommodate multiple levels of abstraction would fix that. I believe this is what C4 [1] tries to achieve with 4 levels of diagram. Unfortunately everybody who invents a new diagram model also reinvents the wheel and throws the entire UML away. You could easily use UML visual language, and just standardise on using the 4 levels diagrams of C4.

    [1] https://c4model.com

    6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 15 Jun 2023
    > What do you think is the whole point of a modeling language?

    Not building an entire system down to class level which is what it is all too often used for (in my experience exclusively by people who have never and cannot code).

    It's inefficient, doesn't play well with Software Engineering (diff, version control etc..) and is a relic of the past.

    Keep the classes in code, project that into a diagram for the few occasions that is actually needed, and stick to a simplified tool like C4 (https://c4model.com) for your architectural views. Sprinkle some sequence diagrams in too to help describe the key data flows (they're handy next to C4).

    Why use C4 over UML? Because the vast majority of the audience don't even know what UML is. So keep it extremely simple and include a key / guide to any of the (few) shapes or colors you use so that it's completely self contained.

    The vast majority of UML belongs to be put into the Indiana Jones storage facility along with other archaic ideas such as Function Points / Function Point Analysis.

  • Pravljenje AWS strukturnog diagrama
    5 projects | /r/programiranje | 7 Jun 2023
    Ako hoces bas nesto za arhitekturu imas https://c4model.com/. Pogledaj bas Simon Brown-ov software mozda ti to odgovara. Meni nije legao.
  • Are there any reasons not to use Oauth2 and tokens with templates?
    2 projects | /r/FastAPI | 2 Jun 2023
    I suggest you to model your building blocks in order to better understand your needs. https://c4model.com/ is a good approach for that, particularly the deployment diagram in your case
  • Mastering Software Architecture Visualization with the C4 Model
    2 projects | dev.to | 19 May 2023
    C4 Model - The C4 Model Website, outlining the model in great detail.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing C4-PlantUML and c4-notation you can also consider the following projects:

mermaid - Generation of diagrams like flowcharts or sequence diagrams from text in a similar manner as markdown

d2 - D2 is a modern diagram scripting language that turns text to diagrams.

aws-icons-for-plantuml - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Amazon Web Services services and resources

Azure-PlantUML - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Azure services

backstage - Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals

dsl - Structurizr DSL

swagger-ui - Swagger UI is a collection of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation from a Swagger-compliant API.

c4-draw.io - Draw.io template/diagram containing C4 Model shapes. Drawio Diagrams.net

gcp-icons-for-plantuml - PlantUML sprites, macros, and other includes for Google Cloud Platform services and resources

plantuml-syntax - vim syntax file for plantuml

uml-reverse-mapper - Automatically generate class diagram from code. Supports Graphviz, PlantUML and Mermaid output formats.

excalidraw - Virtual whiteboard for sketching hand-drawn like diagrams