The way people have implemented visual programming has turned out to be a bit of an oxymoron. Visual and symbolic are entirely different channels of representation & understanding (for the most part). Representing a program using lines of code and throwing some "visual magic" to spread out lines of code across a screen doesn't take advantage of what EITHER visual or symbolic manipulation has to offer.
Visual programming efforts have tried to visualize code and operate at the wrong abstraction. Programming is just the act of creating programs. In a visual programming environment, the author / programmer should use visual interactions to "write the program". This means a few things needs to be considered:
- the representation - how is a computer program represented? how is state represented?
- direct manipulation - imagine using a tool like Photoshop having to compile / build to see your changes between every edit.
- input devices - mouse / keyboard works for writing lines of code. Touchscreen is a better input device / interface for visual programming but still lacking (no tactile response).
In my opinion, not enough is reinvented when visual programming efforts are tried. I think the entire stack (human input --> program state) needs to be reinvented and reconsidered. Bret Victor has a great section on visual program in his FAQ for one of his talks - http://worrydream.com/DrawingDynamicVisualizationsTalkAddend...
Visual programming efforts have tried to visualize code and operate at the wrong abstraction. Programming is just the act of creating programs. In a visual programming environment, the author / programmer should use visual interactions to "write the program". This means a few things needs to be considered:
- the representation - how is a computer program represented? how is state represented? - direct manipulation - imagine using a tool like Photoshop having to compile / build to see your changes between every edit. - input devices - mouse / keyboard works for writing lines of code. Touchscreen is a better input device / interface for visual programming but still lacking (no tactile response).
In my opinion, not enough is reinvented when visual programming efforts are tried. I think the entire stack (human input --> program state) needs to be reinvented and reconsidered. Bret Victor has a great section on visual program in his FAQ for one of his talks - http://worrydream.com/DrawingDynamicVisualizationsTalkAddend...