D2: Declarative Diagramming is one modern language that turns text to diagrams.

Declarative diagramming creates diagrams using a declarative approach, from flowcharts to organization charts. In a declarative approach, the user specifies the relationships and logic of the diagram’s element using formal language rather than manually placing and connecting shapes on a canvas.

D2 is designed with language tooling in mind. D2's parser can parse multiple errors from a broken program, has an autoformatter, syntax highlighting, and we have plans for LSP's and more. Good language tooling is necessary for creating and maintaining large diagrams.

The resulting diagram is generated automatically based on the user’s input. Declarative diagramming can be particularly useful for creating complex diagrams that would be difficult to create manually or generating diagrams from data stored in a database or spreadsheet.

Additionally, declarative diagramming allows for greater flexibility in the design of the diagram and the ability to easily update and change the diagram as needed while saving time.

This course is following the formal D2 Tour, give you live demo on step-by-step learning journey to the detail D2 knowledge points.

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D2 (D2lang) is a domain-specific diagram scripting language that transforms text into diagrams. D2 takes the declarative diagramming approach and generates images based on the declared code syntax (text). Rather than being geared towards designers, D2 is marketed towards engineers. Using D2, you can create diagrams that declare shapes, connections, containers, and special objects. You can also make more customizations via programming that covers strings, comments, and overrides.

D2 supports various diagrams, including flowcharts, state diagrams, and entity-relationship diagrams. D2 also provides a wide range of customization options, allowing users to change the appearance of diagrams to match their organization’s branding and needs or conform to specific standards.

You can also create custom shapes and elements with D2, making it easy to create diagrams that accurately reflect the specific needs of your projects.

D2 is open source, and the Terrastruct project supports it. The Terrastruct project provides a set of tools for creating and maintaining infrastructure-as-code. The D2 syntax is simple and easy to learn and is an excellent addition to other tools like Terraform, Ansible, and others.