I'm working on some beginner programming tutorials and am finding it difficult to keep track of the many modules and functions involved, their purpose (abstractly), and their interrelationships. I'd like to see everything from a bird's-eye view to better envision how I can more elegantly reorganize and refactor the code.
Is there a specialized tool (other than a whiteboard and marker) that professionals use to manage this complexity? Are programmers expected to just rely on mental models? Do professionals use flowchart software like Lucidchart for this kind of thing?
Structure Charts have been around since the mid-70s. Data Flow Diagrams, if you do leaf level -1 only, are useful too for structured (non-OO). If doing non-OO look at the Yourdon Method. Also look at Essential Systems Analysis as the basis for event partitioning. There are various CASE tools still in use.
UML can work well and has been around for many years, if you are doing OO. If one does not go "diagram-happy" then UML can work quite well.
There are ERDs for data relationships.
Graphical modeling tools have never penetrated the general programmer population more than about 18%. I think in part due to lack of proper training for the developers, lack of proper training in managing projects using models for managers and over-promise/under deliver by CASE tool vendors. I started using graphical tools in college - structure charts. I am always amazed at how "professional developers" can write large programs with no visual model of the interrelationships and dependencies. How do they remember all that? How do they bring new people up to speed when they join the project?
Those of us who ask the questions you ask seem to be in a minority. I don't think it's a "tool-thing." I think some developers want that "higher level of abstraction" and visualization, and some don't.