5 ms·

If there is one common theme. Its "visual programming" ;)

by indescions_2017 9y ago

RubenSandwich 9y ago
While I know so many programmers are vehemently opposed to "visual programming" I wonder if we can make programming multimodal. Such as a programming language that supports both visual and text modes, where both are first class citizens to the language. This would allow us to use visual tools to see macrostructure; a place where text falls short. But still let us have our tools for the micro-editing that is modern programming. I know some work has been done in this area: http://ravichugh.github.io/sketch-n-sketch/ http://ravichugh.github.io/sketch-n-sketch/.
- nikofeyn 9y ago
  i am firmly of the belief that this is possible and the right direction to go. i primarily use labview, which is arguably the best general purpose visual programming language. there is a lot of power in the visual approach, and i think it could be improved and extended. as you say, many people are allergic to visual programming but often due to tunnel vision and short sighted reasons. but the visual paradigm is a step in the right direction in terms of seeing and interacting with your program rather than just writing it.
- akavel 9y ago
  See also an attempt at: http://www.luna-lang.org/ http://www.luna-lang.org/ I'm crossing my fingers hoping they'll finally get something out in the public.
- Glench 9y ago
  > While I know so many programmers are vehemently opposed to "visual programming" I wonder if we can make programming multimodal. "Visual programming" so far as been about visualizing program's static structure. Scratch and Labview do this, and this has some advantages, especially for beginners. But there's never been much advantage in understanding program behavior from seeing its structure, and I think tools for understanding program behavior are probably the most effective way of making all programming better. See my project Flowsheets for some experiments in this space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q

If there is one common theme. Its "visual programming" ;)

While I know so many programmers are vehemently opposed to "visual programming" I wonder if we can make programming multimodal. Such as a programming language that supports both visual and text modes, where both are first class citizens to the language. This would allow us to use visual tools to see macrostructure; a place where text falls short. But still let us have our tools for the micro-editing that is modern programming. I know some work has been done in this area: http://ravichugh.github.io/sketch-n-sketch/ http://ravichugh.github.io/sketch-n-sketch/.

nikofeyn 9y ago
i am firmly of the belief that this is possible and the right direction to go. i primarily use labview, which is arguably the best general purpose visual programming language. there is a lot of power in the visual approach, and i think it could be improved and extended. as you say, many people are allergic to visual programming but often due to tunnel vision and short sighted reasons. but the visual paradigm is a step in the right direction in terms of seeing and interacting with your program rather than just writing it.
akavel 9y ago
See also an attempt at: http://www.luna-lang.org/ http://www.luna-lang.org/ I'm crossing my fingers hoping they'll finally get something out in the public.
Glench 9y ago
> While I know so many programmers are vehemently opposed to "visual programming" I wonder if we can make programming multimodal. "Visual programming" so far as been about visualizing program's static structure. Scratch and Labview do this, and this has some advantages, especially for beginners. But there's never been much advantage in understanding program behavior from seeing its structure, and I think tools for understanding program behavior are probably the most effective way of making all programming better. See my project Flowsheets for some experiments in this space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q