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Graphical programming cannot make the activity of programming easier. Programming is encoding a system of rules. It doesn't matter whether you do it by point-an

by Joeri 11y ago

Graphical programming cannot make the activity of programming easier. Programming is encoding a system of rules. It doesn't matter whether you do it by point-and-click or by written language, the rules remain the same. The "ease" of point-and-click is discoverability of possible rules and intuitive representation of said rules, but that's nothing that a good IDE can't do at the code level just as well.

21 11y ago
Yes it can. Dragging and dropping to create a data processing pipeline is much faster and less error prone than writing the equivalent code. An easy to see example are audio pipeline building software, where you hook together various components - http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/reaktor-6-screen-b.jpg http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/20... Google also has something like this - https://i.imgur.com/bGTSDf5.png https://i.imgur.com/bGTSDf5.png
- theoh 11y ago
  Has anyone tried to write functional programs (not necessarily of the reactive FRP variety) this way? I'm trying to imagine how it would play with algebraic data types and pattern matching. (I feel Haskell syntax is dreadful once you start trying to achieve anything beyond "functional pearl"-type material.)
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  Only if the code is trivial. Max/MSP and PD are the goto products here. https://cycling74.com/max7/ https://cycling74.com/max7/ They're incredibly horrible for anything complicated. Even a simple for loop requires multiple clicks to select the modules you need, multiple lines of typing to set their parameters, and multiple mouse movements to define the connections. It literally takes about around ten times longer than typing. Neither handles encapsulation elegantly and transparently. (Max 7 is the best effort yet, but it's still not pain free.) They have some nice DSP features for building DSP chains, and as long as you stick with those they're useful. But they're an instant nightmare if you try to do anything with logic that would be trivial in written code. Reaktor doesn't compare because it just does the DSP thing. It's a very simple pipeline. The takeaway is that simple module composition is easy, but non-trivial logic flows with many data types can be very challenging indeed.
digi_owl 11y ago
http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/ http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/

by Joeri 11y ago

21 11y ago

Yes it can. Dragging and dropping to create a data processing pipeline is much faster and less error prone than writing the equivalent code. An easy to see example are audio pipeline building software, where you hook together various components - http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/reaktor-6-screen-b.jpg http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/20... Google also has something like this - https://i.imgur.com/bGTSDf5.png https://i.imgur.com/bGTSDf5.png

theoh 11y ago
Has anyone tried to write functional programs (not necessarily of the reactive FRP variety) this way? I'm trying to imagine how it would play with algebraic data types and pattern matching. (I feel Haskell syntax is dreadful once you start trying to achieve anything beyond "functional pearl"-type material.)
TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
Only if the code is trivial. Max/MSP and PD are the goto products here. https://cycling74.com/max7/ https://cycling74.com/max7/ They're incredibly horrible for anything complicated. Even a simple for loop requires multiple clicks to select the modules you need, multiple lines of typing to set their parameters, and multiple mouse movements to define the connections. It literally takes about around ten times longer than typing. Neither handles encapsulation elegantly and transparently. (Max 7 is the best effort yet, but it's still not pain free.) They have some nice DSP features for building DSP chains, and as long as you stick with those they're useful. But they're an instant nightmare if you try to do anything with logic that would be trivial in written code. Reaktor doesn't compare because it just does the DSP thing. It's a very simple pipeline. The takeaway is that simple module composition is easy, but non-trivial logic flows with many data types can be very challenging indeed.

digi_owl 11y ago

http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/ http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/