It would be awesome if someone could fund a free open source version of Simulink (as a VSCode plugin or something like that).
It’s getting more expensive every year.
indigoabstract · 1h ago
For some reason while reading this, I thought of Erlang, a language I know nothing about, except that it's not a visual language and it's build out (many) processes, kind of like a tiny internet with server and client nodes that can be taken down anytime for repairs or updates.
Maybe there's an unobvious way to make visual programming actually useful?
Probably quite a few people have wondered that throughout the ages. I know I have.
In the meantime, this AI thing happened, emphasizing even more the use of text/voice as a mode of creative expression.
Towaway69 · 22m ago
Have a look at Erlang-Red[1] which uses Erlang for the basis of making a visual programming environment.
Erlang-Red is inspired by Node-RED which itself is inspired by flow based programming.
> Maybe there's an unobvious way to make visual programming actually useful?
I'd think it would be finding the optimal parameters for an algorithm that is probably better expressed in another language.
Even though they are all Turing complete, any programming paradigm is biased towards solving certain kinds of problems.
It seems "visual programming" is biased towards the computationally irreducable[1]. This is a class of problem very sensitive to initial conditions. The chaotic behavior may eventually settle towards a stable state. So, the image of that stable state then encodes the parameters you'd want to use on the algorithm you wrote in another language.
That's not meant to be harsh. This gets directly to the heart of why we may want to write the same ideas in different ways even if those writings are logically equivalent. One way is just easier to understand than the other and these multiple writings are not redundant. They are the facets necessary to more thoroughly explain a problem.
Feels like visual programming keeps trying to be “code, but with pictures” instead of asking what problems pictures are actually good at solving. We’ve basically been drawing the same boxes and arrows since the 80s and wondering why it still feels like wiring up a VCR.
If we really leaned into the visual cortex, maybe we’d get something where zooming out shows the big picture and zooming in shows the gritty details, like Google Maps for code. Until then, node‑and‑wire diagrams are just UML diagrams that decided to cosplay as circuit boards.
spacebacon · 24m ago
Fundamentally underestimates the chaotic, exploratory essence of innovation. I challenge you to write the argument for form over function for good measure. Form follows function inside the box.
AfterHIA · 1h ago
Dude fucking Google, "e-Toys and, "Mindstorms by Seymour Papert" and get back to me.
It’s getting more expensive every year.
Maybe there's an unobvious way to make visual programming actually useful?
Probably quite a few people have wondered that throughout the ages. I know I have.
In the meantime, this AI thing happened, emphasizing even more the use of text/voice as a mode of creative expression.
Erlang-Red is inspired by Node-RED which itself is inspired by flow based programming.
[1] https://github.com/gorenje/erlang-red
Disclaimer: I’m the author of Erlang-Red.
I'd think it would be finding the optimal parameters for an algorithm that is probably better expressed in another language.
Even though they are all Turing complete, any programming paradigm is biased towards solving certain kinds of problems.
It seems "visual programming" is biased towards the computationally irreducable[1]. This is a class of problem very sensitive to initial conditions. The chaotic behavior may eventually settle towards a stable state. So, the image of that stable state then encodes the parameters you'd want to use on the algorithm you wrote in another language.
That's not meant to be harsh. This gets directly to the heart of why we may want to write the same ideas in different ways even if those writings are logically equivalent. One way is just easier to understand than the other and these multiple writings are not redundant. They are the facets necessary to more thoroughly explain a problem.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_irreducibility
If we really leaned into the visual cortex, maybe we’d get something where zooming out shows the big picture and zooming in shows the gritty details, like Google Maps for code. Until then, node‑and‑wire diagrams are just UML diagrams that decided to cosplay as circuit boards.
#ted #nelson #engelbart