Nassi-Shneiderman diagram

A Nassi-Shneiderman diagram is a graphical design representation for structured programming. Developed in 1972 by Isaac Nassi and Ben Shneiderman, these diagrams are also called structograms .

Following a top-down design, the problem at hand is reduced into smaller and smaller subproblems, until only simple statements and control flow contructs remain. Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams reflect this top-down decomposition in a straight-forward way, using nested boxes to represent subproblems. Consistent with the philosophy of structured programming, Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams have no representation for a GOTO statement.

Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams are only rarely used , and modifications usually require the whole diagram to be redrawn.

= Literature =

Nassi, I.; Shneiderman, B.: [http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/4748/nsd.html Flowchart techniques for structured programming] , SIGPLAN Notices XII, August 1973.

= External links =

*[http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/members/bshneiderman/nsd/ A short history of structured flowcharts (Nassi-Shneiderman Diagrams) ], by Ben Shneiderman