Post by Gareth EvansWhen you consider programming a loop in C, you have
in your mind a single concept but you have to press
a large number of keys to get just the boiler plate
for that construct, eg,
for (=,<>,++){}
.. and mistyping will cause irritating errors, whereas
with visual programming one key press alone would give you
the boiler plate for the loop and a graphical blob to
represent it and no syntax errors.
I've used editor templates for this purpose. A single function,
not necessarily a single keypress, will output something like
#include <stdio.h>
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
_
return 0;
}
and the _ is used to mark where my cursor is at the end of the keypress.
The same can be done with for loops, while, do..while, whatnot.
You don't /need/ a visual language for this; if it helps, good.
What my editor lacks, or I have never figured out how to implement, is
something like
for ( _ ; _ ; _ )
{
_
}
where I can use a single key to jump between the various locations
marked with _.
***
Now you've got me confused, do you mean to write an editor, with
graphical functions for generating code, /or/ a totally visual
programming language? If you go for the latter, are you going for
flowcharts which nobody is using anymore? If you don't, are you
going for some intuitive[*] graphical syntax?
[*] Intuitive is not as intuitive as people think. In modern desktop
environments, there's usually an X that means /close this window/; this
X is not at all intuitive in any way, but people are used to it, and
learn quickly from one another, plus video demonstrations on Youtube and
the like.
--
Johann | email: invalid -> com | www.myrkraverk.com/blog/
I'm not from the Internet, I just work there. | twitter: @myrkraverk