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Show HN: I Design with Code

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Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#31

Post by chrisgannon »

pavlov wrote: post #30
chrisgannon wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Code is perfectly suited to design. What is design if nothing other than patterns. What's code? Patterns.

Is architecture best represented in code? It's all about patterns. Why do we have CAD tools at all when architects and engineers could just be writing code for buildings?

Some people need those visual metaphors in order to create something. There are people who think differently (from you) and a CAD tool would simply be a hindrance. And if the resulting building is top quality why care how the blueprints were made?

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#32

Post by brett40324 »

chrisgannon wrote: post #15
TeMPOraL wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. "I design with code" sounds a bit like "I clean floors with a power drill". A powerful tool, indeed, but very ill-suited for that job.

Code is perfectly suited to design. What is design if nothing other than patterns. What's code? Patterns.

>Whats code? Patterns.

Im not trying to insult your work, but this is so grossly generalized and false that it's absurd.

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#33

Post by GreenSock »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #11
pavlov wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to be a non-programmer to want less code. Some things are much better represented with visual models than text streams.

Yup. "I design with code" sounds a bit like "I clean floors with a power drill". A powerful tool, indeed, but very ill-suited for that job.

I'd bet that most people who have done advanced animation work [with code] can see exactly what Chris means. I certainly can. There is incredible motion design work that is purely accomplished in code. Certain things are faster and far more flexible in that medium. He's not saying "Design can and should only be done with code". I don't understand why anyone would bash the sentiment expressed in Chris' work. I think it's entirely valid and deserves our respect.

Code is a tool, just like a GUI. Most GUIs just abstract away the creation of the code anyway. If a guy like Chris can leverage code as a tool directly and doesn't need a GUI, more power to him. There are plenty of effects I've created with code that would be an absolute nightmare to try to create with a GUI.

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#35

Post by TeMPOraL »

GreenSock wrote: post #33
TeMPOraL wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. "I design with code" sounds a bit like "I clean floors with a power drill". A powerful tool, indeed, but very ill-suited for that job.

I'd bet that most people who have done advanced animation work [with code] can see exactly what Chris means. I certainly can. There is incredible motion design work that is purely accomplished in code. Certain things are faster and far more flexible in that medium. He's not saying "Design can and should only be done with code". I don't understand why anyone would bash the sentiment expressed in Chris' work. I think i…

> There is incredible motion design work that is purely accomplished in code. Certain things are faster and far more flexible in that medium.

There are, but not that much. Look at the code of this demo. It's not obvious, it was probably hard to tweak to look nice, not to mention doing any debugging.

> There are plenty of effects I've created with code that would be an absolute nightmare to try to create with a GUI.

That's kind of my point. It isn't that code is better-suited to this job - it's that our GUI tools are mostly stuck in the static world and suck for dynamic / interactive visualizations.

Bret Victor put a lot of thought on how to improve this state of affairs; he also brings convincing arguments that such things are still better-suited for direct, visual manipulation - that coding directly is a crutch we use because of lack of better tools.

Some good talks and essays on this:

http://worrydream.com/MediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable/

https://vimeo.com/66085662

http://worrydream.com/DrawingDynamicVisualizationsTalkAddend...

https://vimeo.com/64895205

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#36

Post by chrisgannon »

tarr11 wrote: post #17
eliangidoni wrote: post #7

I would like to see less code and more of everything else. This is funny though :-)

Yeah, I don't see how this kind of code is helpful for design (taken from the codepen). mainLineMask[0].getAttribute('d'), mainLine2MaskPath = "M148,122.5c82.2-71.6,377,53.3,504,0C766.5,189.5,65.8,194.1,148,122.5z", mainLine3Path = "M148,122.1c152.9,62.6,377,56.4,504,0", mainLine3MaskPath = "M148,122.5c152.9,63.6,377,53.3,504,0C766.5,189.5,65.8,194.1,148,122.5z", mainLine4Path = "M148,122.1c152.9,62.6,377-83.1,504,0"…

We clearly see design differently then. These lines of code are curved shapes that the bezier line will morph to.

Remember, just because you 'don't see how this kind of code is helpful for design' it doesn't mean that other people share your view. We all see things differently - a good thing to remember especially in these times.

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#37

Post by chrisgannon »

brett40324 wrote: post #32
chrisgannon wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Code is perfectly suited to design. What is design if nothing other than patterns. What's code? Patterns.

>Whats code? Patterns. Im not trying to insult your work, but this is so grossly generalized and false that it's absurd.

You're not insulting my work at all :) On the contrary the fact that you're discussing it means you think it worthy of discussion.

But please note that programming mostly definitely is made up of patterns - ask any programmer. It's not absurd, nor a generalisation, it's a fact. If you're interested check these links out: http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-desig... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_design_pattern

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#38

Post by abustamam »

wrigby wrote: post #9

I was curious as to how this was done, so I took a look at the external JS that CodePen was configured to load. He's using GreenSock[1], which looks like a really cool tool for building rich interactions and animations with SVG+JS in the browser. 1: https://greensock.com/

I've worked with Greensock extensively at work. It's a fun library with its own community. Once I figure out how to play nicely with React, I hope to use it extensively in my pet projects.

Re: Show HN: I Design with Code

#39

Post by tarr11 »

chrisgannon wrote: post #36
tarr11 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't see how this kind of code is helpful for design (taken from the codepen). mainLineMask[0].getAttribute('d'), mainLine2MaskPath = "M148,122.5c82.2-71.6,377,53.3,504,0C766.5,189.5,65.8,194.1,148,122.5z", mainLine3Path = "M148,122.1c152.9,62.6,377,56.4,504,0", mainLine3MaskPath = "M148,122.5c152.9,63.6,377,53.3,504,0C766.5,189.5,65.8,194.1,148,122.5z", mainLine4Path = "M148,122.1c152.9,62.6,377-83.1,504,0"…

We clearly see design differently then. These lines of code are curved shapes that the bezier line will morph to. Remember, just because you 'don't see how this kind of code is helpful for design' it doesn't mean that other people share your view. We all see things differently - a good thing to remember especially in these times.

I understand that, and as a developer, I'm used to working with stuff like this.

However, without some sort of interactive IDE, this just feels like magic numbers. The code itself, as written, is not enough to help you visualize what you are producing.

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