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.<\/p>\n
Now it seems visual programming is back. The other day Scratch<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n Yahoo has Pipes<\/a>, drag-and-drop RSS feed combination and transformation.<\/p>\n Now here comes Microsoft PopFly<\/a>, online visual programming for Silverlight. Is it programming? I think so:<\/p>\n Underneath the covers, blocks are just chunks of code that wrap complex operations, like retrieving data from a Web site or displaying an animated slideshow so that others can easily reuse that block.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n PopFly looks interesting, easy to use and visually appealing, though I’ve not got an account yet. I’ve only watched the demo video.<\/p>\n Of course the visual bit only takes you so far. If you want to create your own blocks, or customize them, you have to write your own Javascript. I guess that will always be the case. It’s still good to see development being made more accessible for non-technical users.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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. Now it seems visual programming is back. The other day Scratch hit the news, a cool … Continue reading Visual Programming is back: PopFly, Pipes, Scratch<\/span> \n