Visual Programming
Tim Anderson notes that Visual Programming seems to be making a comeback:
The first true visual programming environment I used was IBM’s VisualAge Smalltalk. I liked it and thought it was a shame when IBM reverted to pure code-based development with Eclipse. Admittedly, complex applications got fairly confusing, with lines everywhere.
From a parentage standpoint, IBM was copying the functionality in PARTS, which came out of Digitalk's Visual Smalltalk. The problem was always the level of granularity - if you use a tool like that to lay out a UI and connect widgets and domain models, you get what we used to call "green haze" - too many lines on screen to see anything at all. I said then that I thought such connectivity might be a good idea if it was used at a higher (component) level - and that's what Tim notes is happening now:
Now it seems visual programming is back. The other day Scratch hit the news, a cool visual programming environment for kids. I like the way that jigsaw-like shapes are used to indicate whether or not two blocks can be fitted together.
Yahoo has Pipes, drag-and-drop RSS feed combination and transformation.
Now here comes Microsoft PopFly, online visual programming for Silverlight.
I suppose I really ought to play with Pipes, since it's living at the level I always thought might be useful (although - the catch is creating components that have useful connecting points). I'm still a bit skeptical about all of this, but it's nice to see an old idea being tried again, at what I think is a more appropriate level.
Technorati Tags: visual programming, wiring, PARTS
Comments
Visual Programming Works
[Runar Jordahl] May 19, 2007 13:39:04.521
Visual Programming can be used at the lower levels too. The “green haze” is avoided by composing large screens from many smaller parts. In those smaller parts, visual programming can be really helpful. I worked on a projects using the Composition Editor in VAST like this, and it was great. Hooking up the domain to the GUI is then a lot easier than in VisualWorks where multiple methods for making value models must be made. In VAST you can simply draw your connections.
Some more details are found here.
I thought Prograph was a good effort also
[erikgj] May 19, 2007 23:23:14.847
I wish it would make a return.