Point me to a good program for making diagrams and such for a paper?

[TecHNooB]

before I start using paint or stealing graphics from powerpoint.

 

[esun]

If you're writing the paper in LaTeX, then there are a bunch of packages that will let you make various diagrams. There are general-purpose drawing packages, like PGF/TikZ and PSTricks, and there are more specific ones like Xy-pic and circuit_macros.

If not, then just use Visio.

 

[Born2bwire]

I use Visio. It's a pain in the ass and takes forever but it makes really good looking diagrams.

 

[Net]

openoffice draw. its the openoffice clone of visio

 

[CycloWizard]

There is a free program available online called "Dia" that has a large shape repository for a lot of different things. It's very simple to use, though my experience with it is pretty limited.

 

[Aluvus]

What kind of diagrams?

Inkscape is good for many purposes, and free.

 

[Knavish]

What kind of diagrams?

Inkscape is good for many purposes, and free.

I second this! One suggestion: Inkscape seems more stable in linux, at least in my experience.

If you don't mind paying for software (or you have good academic discounts), you can try something like Canvas, which I find to be much less frustrating than Adobe Illustrator. I used it to make bunches of figures in the past.

 

[Modelworks]

edraw is hard to beat for diagrams and such, but not free, there is a trial though.
http://www.edrawsoft.com/

 

[wiretap]

I prefer Visio. There are tons of templates out there that will give you awesome looking diagrams.