I have been looking at things like D2 and Penrose, trying to wrap Python around them to make it a bit easier to script up diagrams based on data.
Working through the problem I realize I probably would have a better time with something like Haskell but I do think the lower the barrier to entry is for drawing up stuff with these tools the more people will reach for programmatic diagramming to help debug and explain things.
The biggest problem with most of the declarative tools like D2,dot,mermaid etc is that they tend to not really offer "declare, then tweak" workflows. You can of course generate some SVG and then tweak it in Inkscape, but sometimes you just want to move something a bit after layout, constraints be damned.
Penrose makes that easier, at the cost of ... I guess everything else being weirder and randomized.
Working through the problem I realize I probably would have a better time with something like Haskell but I do think the lower the barrier to entry is for drawing up stuff with these tools the more people will reach for programmatic diagramming to help debug and explain things.
The biggest problem with most of the declarative tools like D2,dot,mermaid etc is that they tend to not really offer "declare, then tweak" workflows. You can of course generate some SVG and then tweak it in Inkscape, but sometimes you just want to move something a bit after layout, constraints be damned.
Penrose makes that easier, at the cost of ... I guess everything else being weirder and randomized.