Do experienced programmers still use flowcharts to work out the order of operations, or do they do it in their heads? [closed]

Question

Is this a legit tool or is it a crutch that I will eventually grow out of needing?

Update: By order of operations, I mean:

1. launch app
2. read prefs
3. calculate value from prefs
4. write prefs to file...

Right now, I draw diagrams at the method level as well as the app level when I'm having trouble visualizing the program flow.

Answer 1

If you literally mean "Flowchart", then

no, experienced programmers don't use flowcharts, they use data-flow diagrams, action diagrams, sequence diagrams, use cases, et al; flowcharts fell out of favor in the 1970s when empirical studies* pretty much demonstrated that they were useless as a design tool

• see for example Survey of empirical studies of graphical representations for algorithms:

...Empirical studies of GRA's have focused primarily on the flowchart and the results of these studies indicate its effectiveness as an aid to comprehension is questionable.

If you just mean "diagrams", then

yes, of course. Visual metaphors are useful tools.