Visual Programming Is Great For Learning And Growing

At every step of creating a visual programming language, there is always a pleasant surprise.

Even at the database end, at the very bottom, it is just two tables nodes and connections.

A visual programming language has nodes with anchors, where anchors can be connected together.

Each node represents something that can be done, set thermostat, reboot computer, play a sound.

Nodes can be as complex as rxjs components, of mouse listeners, mouse up, mouse down, mouse move…

For example, could create a generic drag and drop system, where one could drop a file onto a web page, and upload it.

The visual part of a programming language, are the boxes that represent nodes and lines that display the connections.

Here programs can get pretty huge, and still remain readable, as the lines lead the way.

An important feature of a visual programming language, is the node edit button.

And here, the screen changes from visual programming, or node orchestration, to a code editor.

This may sound bad, but the programming behind a node, is tiny, it maybe five lines of code, 50 would be too much.

This code, lives as a file, inside a mono repository, and can be edited as a standard code editor.

It is just a proper JavaScript, or npm, or node_module, a good visual programming language is respectful of code.

Now, the most confusing part, may seem, like the node anchors and connections between them.

But actually, that is an instance of an object, called a writable, that allows a change to whatever it is holding, and then announces that change.

It is a connector, a pipe, an inter-dimensional straw, whatever you put into the input, will notify whatever is listening at the output end.

If we had two nodes, a and b, putting something into the connection on a end, would notify b that new data arrived.

But the details of this are very fluid and flexible, they are meant to be customizable in the node editor.

The short version is that, the connection, takes an output anchor writable, and gives it to whatever node it is connected for monitoring.

On the write end you have to say output.set(“hello world”) setting a value, and on the monitoring end you say, subscribe to input anchor, and here is a function.

This function, just has one argument, and it will be the hello world set in the output.

It may sound a little bit annoying, without seeing the program in operation…

But this whole thing is so simple, and powerful, customizable and flexible, that is serves as the perfect foot in the door, of starting point for a person new to programming.

Without ever being anything like training wheels, this is a proper code editor, that creates perfectly usable code.

The programmer can return to it, after a long time, and have no problems rediscovering how their old programs work.

All the flows are right there on the screen, all the code is within the nodes or reusable components.

The more the programmer learn, the more powerful their nodes can grow.

I think programming a visual programming language, can make for a Summer well spent.

What is especially interesting about such a quest, is that eventually you end up programming it, with it self.