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Watching Mr. Victor, he tells us about how we're doing old media with new tools (painting, film.) Then he moves on to ... a puppet show using his new tools. I f

by delinka 12y ago

Watching Mr. Victor, he tells us about how we're doing old media with new tools (painting, film.) Then he moves on to ... a puppet show using his new tools. I feel like he started with what was going to be an intriguing thesis ("make something new, not just old media with new tools") and changed to building those new tools. That criticism aside, he's absolutely correct about needing new tools to prevent the creator from needing to learn a programming language. I'd suggest that this is the case in many fields. I'd go so far as to suggest that some day most of us software creators might be able to create software with little to no code, just dragging together concepts. (I'm aware that such tools have existed and do exist. One could argue that they haven't quite nailed it and thus are not very widespread in use.)

TuringTest 12y ago
(I'm aware that such tools have existed and do exist. One could argue that they haven't quite nailed it and thus are not very widespread in use.) I believe that day may be closer than you expect. I've seen all, and I mean all the components required to build such a practical programming system. They just were scattered around systems for widely different purposes, or buried in decades-old research projects that were too experimental and heavyweight for the machines available back then. (Victor's is certainly the closer to that vision, although it still misses several key components to make it practical and widespread; a close second is the Wolfram Language). I have in mind a pet project to combine those partial tools in a way that I think would make a practical mostly-general-purpose programming language. Having some background in human-computer interaction, I think I'd be able to identify the most obvious roadblocks. Unfortunately, I'm afraid my limited skills and time wouldn't allow my to expand the system beyond a simple proof of concept. If you're interested, I think I could compile a small recollection of my ruminations and put it in a presentable form, if only to inspire others and get some feedback on my approach. I don't know though if that would make for a good Hacker News submission, does this site accept links to personal blogs discussing pet projects?
- mej10 12y ago
  I am interested in your article. And yes, HN absolutely accepts links to personal blogs discussing pet projects.
  - TuringTest 12y ago
    Ok, I'll try to put something in writing. Yesterday's link to the Leo editor has inspired me to organize an idea-dump of all my dispersed notes. :-)

by delinka 12y ago

TuringTest 12y ago

(I'm aware that such tools have existed and do exist. One could argue that they haven't quite nailed it and thus are not very widespread in use.) I believe that day may be closer than you expect. I've seen all, and I mean all the components required to build such a practical programming system. They just were scattered around systems for widely different purposes, or buried in decades-old research projects that were too experimental and heavyweight for the machines available back then. (Victor's is certainly the closer to that vision, although it still misses several key components to make it practical and widespread; a close second is the Wolfram Language). I have in mind a pet project to combine those partial tools in a way that I think would make a practical mostly-general-purpose programming language. Having some background in human-computer interaction, I think I'd be able to identify the most obvious roadblocks. Unfortunately, I'm afraid my limited skills and time wouldn't allow my to expand the system beyond a simple proof of concept. If you're interested, I think I could compile a small recollection of my ruminations and put it in a presentable form, if only to inspire others and get some feedback on my approach. I don't know though if that would make for a good Hacker News submission, does this site accept links to personal blogs discussing pet projects?

mej10 12y ago
I am interested in your article. And yes, HN absolutely accepts links to personal blogs discussing pet projects.
- TuringTest 12y ago
  Ok, I'll try to put something in writing. Yesterday's link to the Leo editor has inspired me to organize an idea-dump of all my dispersed notes. :-)