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Anything that makes programming "easy for non-programmers or businesspeople" Hypercard. Speaking of which, why did Hypercard die in 2004? With the explosion

Anything that makes programming "easy for non-programmers or businesspeople" Hypercard. Speaking of which, why did Hypercard die in 2004? With the explosion in computer use by so many 'normals', I would think adoption would be huge. I'm not aware of any web-based technology that would enable Hypercard level of minimalist, user-friendly programming.

seanalltogether 16y ago
Anything that makes programming "easy for non-programmers or businesspeople" Why? Make Car repair "easy for non-mechanics" ... presumes people want to work on their own cars. They don't. I don't buy in to this answer. People obviously connect with the idea of creating content on their computer whether it's word processing, creating music, or editing photos. I think people like the idea of creating their own programs too. The problem with general programming is that the output is too ambiguous, so it's impossible to build simple tools to express them. Lego for instance has a drag and drop tool for programming mindstorm legos but the input and output are a known quantity. With PCs it is impossible to anticipate everything that can and will be built.
- dotBen 16y ago
  The sales-pitch of these "Programming tools for non-programmer's" is usually that all of the developers at your company are busy and you need to get something done so you can do it yourself. The problem is that the type of apps you can build are usually pretty narrow- and if your needs fall outside of that then you are screwed. To riff on the car mechanic comparison - dental work is expensive and not everyone has insurance that covers it - doesn't mean I should perform my own fillings with a home-kit.
- _delirium 16y ago
  I also don't really buy that answer, but I think it's partly because many businesspeople already do do their own programming, in Excel, a good-enough solution that also has the critical edge of being installed on most corporate machines. There are thousands of people who don't consider themselves programmers who do all kinds of what amounts to dataflow programming in Excel, ranging from quick scripts that automate repetitive tasks (what Unix folk might use a shell or Perl script for), to full-on modeling and simulation.
  - hencq 16y ago
    It always strikes me that Excel is essentially a functional programming language. A limited one perhaps (no looping/recursion) with an awkward syntax (all those commas), but still one that tons of non-programmers manage to learn and create powerful stuff with. This language then has an IDE that is quite advanced in some things (conditional formatting, charts) while strangely archaic in others (why are all variables are laid out on a grid?) I wonder if there's an opportunity for a product that introduces a more powerful programming language and steps away from doing all the calculations on a grid, but that keeps the intuitiveness of Excel.
    - jacques_chester 16y ago
      Indeed there is just such a niche of products, such as Resolver One. I think for a lot of people the attraction to spreadsheets is the same as for GUIs: very little short-term memory is required -- you can delegate remembering options and state to the user interface itself.
      - hencq 16y ago
        Interesting, I didn't know about Resolver One. I'll try it out when I have some time. Thanks!
        jacques_chester 16y ago
        No worries. I usually enjoy learning about odd technologies. In the programmability space there's also SIAG (Scheme in a Grid). For analysis you might also look at Quantrix and SuperTable for inspiration.
    - fhars 16y ago
      You are not the first one to think about that: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/Papers/excel/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/Papers...
    - 3pt14159 16y ago
phil 16y ago
Broadly, Hypercard got replaced by the web. There's still a good business in making web authoring environments that are as easy to use as Hypercard. That used to mean Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and friends. Now it's more like Weebly, and I think the blogging platforms fill the same need for a lot of people.
greendestiny 16y ago
Spreadsheets and presentation software took over from hypercard for non-programmers.
tcarnell 16y ago
I would have said that Microsoft Excel does a pretty good job at making programming easy for non-programmers - spreadsheets are also one of the first ever computer desktop applications. However, I do believe that the Drupals and Joomlas of the world wont be around for long - I dont ask an electrician to wire-up my house and do it in a way that I can maintain/alter the system in the future without expertise.

seanalltogether 16y ago

Anything that makes programming "easy for non-programmers or businesspeople" Why? Make Car repair "easy for non-mechanics" ... presumes people want to work on their own cars. They don't. I don't buy in to this answer. People obviously connect with the idea of creating content on their computer whether it's word processing, creating music, or editing photos. I think people like the idea of creating their own programs too. The problem with general programming is that the output is too ambiguous, so it's impossible to build simple tools to express them. Lego for instance has a drag and drop tool for programming mindstorm legos but the input and output are a known quantity. With PCs it is impossible to anticipate everything that can and will be built.

dotBen 16y ago
The sales-pitch of these "Programming tools for non-programmer's" is usually that all of the developers at your company are busy and you need to get something done so you can do it yourself. The problem is that the type of apps you can build are usually pretty narrow- and if your needs fall outside of that then you are screwed. To riff on the car mechanic comparison - dental work is expensive and not everyone has insurance that covers it - doesn't mean I should perform my own fillings with a home-kit.
_delirium 16y ago
I also don't really buy that answer, but I think it's partly because many businesspeople already do do their own programming, in Excel, a good-enough solution that also has the critical edge of being installed on most corporate machines. There are thousands of people who don't consider themselves programmers who do all kinds of what amounts to dataflow programming in Excel, ranging from quick scripts that automate repetitive tasks (what Unix folk might use a shell or Perl script for), to full-on modeling and simulation.
- hencq 16y ago
  It always strikes me that Excel is essentially a functional programming language. A limited one perhaps (no looping/recursion) with an awkward syntax (all those commas), but still one that tons of non-programmers manage to learn and create powerful stuff with. This language then has an IDE that is quite advanced in some things (conditional formatting, charts) while strangely archaic in others (why are all variables are laid out on a grid?) I wonder if there's an opportunity for a product that introduces a more powerful programming language and steps away from doing all the calculations on a grid, but that keeps the intuitiveness of Excel.
  - jacques_chester 16y ago
    Indeed there is just such a niche of products, such as Resolver One. I think for a lot of people the attraction to spreadsheets is the same as for GUIs: very little short-term memory is required -- you can delegate remembering options and state to the user interface itself.
    - hencq 16y ago
      Interesting, I didn't know about Resolver One. I'll try it out when I have some time. Thanks!
      - jacques_chester 16y ago
        No worries. I usually enjoy learning about odd technologies. In the programmability space there's also SIAG (Scheme in a Grid). For analysis you might also look at Quantrix and SuperTable for inspiration.
  - fhars 16y ago
    You are not the first one to think about that: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/Papers/excel/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/Papers...
  - 3pt14159 16y ago

phil 16y ago

Broadly, Hypercard got replaced by the web. There's still a good business in making web authoring environments that are as easy to use as Hypercard. That used to mean Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and friends. Now it's more like Weebly, and I think the blogging platforms fill the same need for a lot of people.

greendestiny 16y ago

Spreadsheets and presentation software took over from hypercard for non-programmers.

tcarnell 16y ago

I would have said that Microsoft Excel does a pretty good job at making programming easy for non-programmers - spreadsheets are also one of the first ever computer desktop applications. However, I do believe that the Drupals and Joomlas of the world wont be around for long - I dont ask an electrician to wire-up my house and do it in a way that I can maintain/alter the system in the future without expertise.