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Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

blog.interfacevision.com

21–30 of 39 posts

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#22
post #4
post #3

Looking at all these visual programming languages, I'm struck at how complex many of them are. For example, I can almost always understand a recursive Fibonacci generator written in a new procedural or functional language that I've never seen before, yet I struggled to figure out what was happening as some of these visual languages generated the same Fibonacci sequence. Why create that kind of complexity in an effort…

Because generally you'll want to deal with a bit higher-level structures using the visual paradigm. So, a Fibonacci generator should be just a box, not a whole graph. Visual programming can help keeping track of data flows within complex and/or parallel programs.

At what point does a visual program become low level enough to not just be a architectural whiteboard session?

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#23
post #16

More suggestions: * Microsoft InfoPath - form designer, visual "rules" language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_InfoPath , pic: https://cdn.lynda.com/video/130286-219-635215935570714090_54... * Microsoft SharePoint Designer - visual workflow language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SharePoint_Designer , pic: http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC620514.png * Microsoft Powerpoint - visual tweens, timeli…

From Microsoft, wouldn't BizTalk qualify?

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#24
I'm glad this is still being updated.

When people announce loudly that visual programming is the future, I'm often one being skeptical, and one of the points I try to make is that it's not a new idea. Not only has it been tried, it's been comprehensively tried, in multitudes of domains and variations. If you think this is the solution, you really ought to spend time studying what has already been tried.

This make that point a lot easier, and makes it a lot easier to find the things to study.

If nothing else, this screenshot display ought to put to rest the idea that visual programming makes programming "intuitive" or "easy to understand".... most of these screenshots are just as opaque at first glance as any block of code is. (And if their secrets are revealed once you learn the language and understand what is being said... well, that's true of code, too, you know...)

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#28
post #24

I'm glad this is still being updated. When people announce loudly that visual programming is the future, I'm often one being skeptical, and one of the points I try to make is that it's not a new idea. Not only has it been tried, it's been comprehensively tried, in multitudes of domains and variations. If you think this is the solution, you really ought to spend time studying what has already been tried. This make tha…

Visual versus Text are just means to an end. What matters is how you apply the given form within a method or process.

A nice example of where hand code struggled and a visual language within the constructs of a formal method succeeded is the V22 Osprey compared to the BA609 Tiltrotor.

The Navy struggles to maintain the V22 and the vehicle has a total of around 40 deaths attributed to it. While the BA609 has far fewer operational hours, it also is more rigorously tested.

http://www.mathworks.com/videos/bell-helicopter-ensures-a-fl...

There are other notable examples of Model Based Design being more appropriate for large complex, mission critical, systems; Toyota's Prius, Curiosity, Dreamliner, etc.

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#29
Last time this came up (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7274674) I had been working on a sort of hybrid between visual programming languages and the traditional "text in files" approach most people have been using for the past few decades. I still think that text seems to be the best way to express exactly what we want out of our programs, but I'm not convinced "text in files" is the right way to go about programming, at least not for all cases.

I'm working on Code Connect (http://codeconnect.io) with a friend and we're trying out some of the ideas first demonstrated in Code Bubbles. Instead of working with files, one works with individual functions. You can see a demo here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuQ8NJOypqs

We're currently building it for Visual Studio, but we should be branching out into other languages and IDEs shortly after we release.

Re: Visual Programming Languages – Snapshots

#30
This is a dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7274674.

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