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Ask HN: What programming languages aren't plain-text-based?
I'm looking for examples of programming languages, particularly for web stuff, that are not fundamentally plain-text-based -- i.e., the source code cannot be expressed as plain text.
I'm thinking about languages that use things like background colors or graphical elements to actually signify instructions (rather than just pretty things up).
- zephyrfalcon 15y agoLook for some of them here: http://strlen.com/programming-languages http://strlen.com/programming-languages (although they're not directly web-related)
- dmlorenzetti 15y agoA controls engineer I know designs systems using ladder logic diagrams, which represent the control logic graphically, largely by drawing the relays and other devices that an earlier generation of engineers would have wired up physically. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder_logic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladder_logic In the systems dynamics world, programs like Simulink, ModelicaML, and Stella allow users to graphically assemble the systems they want to simulate, by linking icons (e.g., "accumulators" and "flows"). http://www.mathworks.com/products/simulink/ http://www.mathworks.com/products/simulink/ http://www.iseesystems.com/softwares/Education/StellaSoftware.aspx http://www.iseesystems.com/softwares/Education/StellaSoftwar... http://www.openmodelica.org/index.php/developer/tools/134 http://www.openmodelica.org/index.php/developer/tools/134 None of these cases really meets your criteria that the source code cannot be expressed as text. Rather, they all use graphics to enable non-traditional programmers (e.g., controls engineers with legacy skills) to interact with a modular programming system.
- spatten 15y agoI think Thyrd (http://thyrd.org/ http://thyrd.org/) fits the bill. You might want to look at the screencast for a good intro: http://thyrd.org/thyrd/screencast.php?v=01 http://thyrd.org/thyrd/screencast.php?v=01.
- shii 15y agoCheck out LoseThos[1] which has images and things as part of the source code, a variant of the C spec which powers the whole OS to run JIT code. 64 bit interesting operating system, all by one guy[2] over several years. LoseThos himself was hellbanned by pg awhile ago and comments a lot still, but you only see his comments if you put showdead to on. He posts lots of strange comments about God's words to him and sometimes relevant comments. [1] http://www.losethos.com/ http://www.losethos.com/ [2] http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=losethos http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=losethos
- zck 15y agoColorforth is a Forth written by Chuck Moore, the guy who created Forth in the 70s. In this quote from Colorforth site (http://colorforth.com/cf.htm http://colorforth.com/cf.htm) , read word as function. >In Forth, a new word is defined by a preceeding colon, words inside a definition are compiled, outside are executed. In colorForth a new word is red, green words are compiled, yellow executed. This use of color further reduces the syntax, or punctuation, needed. It also makes explicit how the computer will interpret each word.
- FaceKicker 15y agoLabVIEW comes to mind. Not really for web stuff though...
- fpmp 15y agoThere's Fortress. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_%28programming_language%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_%28programming_languag...) Not exactly what you were looking for, but its 'source code can be rendered as ASCII text, in Unicode, or as a prettied image.'
- ig1 15y agoAll source code can be express in plain text, so I guess what you're actually asking is what languages are significantly easier to understand with graphic representation as opposed to textual. Circuit boards are a good example of this.