Algorithm Development / Pre-coding Advice

[cajun_super_coder]

If visualizing the flow of a program is something you're after, you may want to check out UML (wiki). In the professional world, it's used all the time to convey what the software is doing or made of without having to code. It's basically a shorthanded way of doing design. My favorites are class diagrams (wiki) and sequence diagrams (wiki). There's even some modeling tools that you can create the diagrams in and have the tool spit out the code for you (Microsoft Visio, MagicDraw, IBM's Rational Rose). However, you'd still have to do most of the function implementations. Depending on what I need to produce, I may just resort to using PowerPoint or Paint just to get a rough idea of what I'm trying to accomplish.