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There's one thing here I strongly agree with: > There is no point developing new programming languages unless they're radically different from existing languag

by ken 8y ago

There's one thing here I strongly agree with: > There is no point developing new programming languages unless they're radically different from existing languages. 95% of the time, any language from the past few decades would work fine for what I'm doing, and I run into far more problems from languages changing than from languages lacking features. (Python 3 is the poster child for this right now, but I don't think it's even the worst offender.) One of my favorite languages is Common Lisp, and that hasn't changed since the 1980's. There's also something here I strongly disagree with: > Programs are composed almost entirely with the mouse rather than keyboard, and type inference and other checks take place while you edit your program. If there's one thing that's true of all programmers today, on any platform, it's that they love their keyboards. You'll never get anywhere trying to get them to edit a program with just their mouse. Graphical programming languages are cool, but they need to incorporate keyboard editing. Like any IDE, you should be able to work with a mouse, but not required to. Put "graphical representation" and "mouse-only editing" in the same boat and the latter will sink the former. I've known a couple programmers who hooked up foot pedals to their editors. I know nobody who's ever written programs with just a mouse. So based on my experience, you're going to have a tougher time selling anyone on this than if you'd made a programming language which required you to use your feet.

nikofeyn 8y ago
regarding the mouse and keyboard use in visual programming, i have used labview extensively. with labview, one normally assumes one hand on the mouse and another on the left side of the keyboard, which is used in a chorded manner in that it provides modifications to what the mouse is doing. this is common i think to other visual environments such CAD programs. then the hands join back on the keyboard for searching and quick drop. i think a hybrid setup like this can be powerful. it is under researched though. i am learning emacs at the moment, which is in the pure keyboard camp. while seemingly powerful, it does feel like a blast into the past and not so efficient in terms of learning curve or reasoning. so all keyboard and all mouse are a miss. i personally think a mix of keyboard, mouse, and touch is something to be explored.

by ken 8y ago

nikofeyn 8y ago

regarding the mouse and keyboard use in visual programming, i have used labview extensively. with labview, one normally assumes one hand on the mouse and another on the left side of the keyboard, which is used in a chorded manner in that it provides modifications to what the mouse is doing. this is common i think to other visual environments such CAD programs. then the hands join back on the keyboard for searching and quick drop. i think a hybrid setup like this can be powerful. it is under researched though. i am learning emacs at the moment, which is in the pure keyboard camp. while seemingly powerful, it does feel like a blast into the past and not so efficient in terms of learning curve or reasoning. so all keyboard and all mouse are a miss. i personally think a mix of keyboard, mouse, and touch is something to be explored.