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I've seen this sort of thing before, 30+ years ago, in the 80's. Borland had something 20+ years ago in the 90's. Microsoft, I believe, tried something like that about 10 years later. It was a grand idea but didn't go anywhere. It might today given different toolsets and performance gains and the right execution.
#SupportHeForShe
Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson
You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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TheGreatAndPowerfulOzIt might today given different toolsets and performance gains and the right execution.
Then again...maybe not. But it's fun playing with!
Marc
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I played around with MS workflows for a while and came to the conclusion it was a pointless exercise. The workflow can be implemented more efficiently in a control function.
On the other hand, it could be a useful tool for linking preconstructed functions.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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Unleash the inner mad scientist.
On the original PlayStation, there was a game called Carnage Heart with a tile programming system for making robots fight.
Graphical representation is valuable for many reasons.
Some people generate UML from code, others generate code from UML.
The value I see with what you're doing there is maybe a way to enforce a sanity check on code and graphically show why it may be broken or sub-optimal.
"You clearly triangled when you should have pancaked."
I would never want to get caught up in fidgeting with shapes and lines to make my code work.
But I'll fidget with my code to make the shapes and lines work if graphical representation shows me I'm painting a Picasso when I've intended Rembrandt.
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I have seen something kinda similar designed to teach children to program. A kind of drag and drop program elements such as ifs and loops etc... But not quite this advanced
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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I'd just like a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
Me, all the time
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Yes now you mention it, Scratch on the Raspberry PI!
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It's what my youngest is learning to code with.
This space for rent
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Marc's invention just had me thinking of that.
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Johnny J. wrote: A kind of drag and drop program elements such as ifs and loops etc...
One of the first "edu-tainment" games I wrote on the C-64 was Turtle Toyland Junior[^], exactly that concept. But I want something that is essentially language agnostic yet doesn't require a dumbed-down language to work.
Marc
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Cool idea.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
Everything makes sense in someone's mind.
Ya can't fix stupid.
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Simulink?
DURA LEX, SED LEX
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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den2k88 wrote: Simulink?
Sort of  Thanks for pointing that out, it's leading to some other avenues of exploration as well.
Marc
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I had to study it in a course at the University. It is definetely useful in a number of applications (automotive with ASIL and ISO26262 risk assessment in my case) and it won't kill the programmers' jobs as those systems (the compilers) need a freaking huge amount of maintenance since they must be spots-free.
The code is self-documented and standardized, in many situations it's more than enough. I prefer algorithmic research or low level bloodbaths so I'm not that interested in these technologies but they're a very good idea.
DURA LEX, SED LEX
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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Yes, Yes I have, and I've also implemented it...(assuming what you're aiming for is drag n drop coding on a "design surface"....
I used the VS DSL Tools SKD (now part of the visualisation and modelling SDK) to provide a tool which allowed the user to drag n drop a table / view / sp etc from Server Explorer's Sql server node, which generated all the Data Access code you'd need, then allowed dragging various UI "types" from the toolbox (List view / editor view / list & detail view). Once you'd got it how you wanted it, you right-clicked and selected "Generate Code". This then popped up a dialog which asked you how you wanted the code generated (new project in the existing sln, new sln, add to existing projects)....I was working on allowing actual proper code (i.e. business logic rather than boilerplate) when I lost interest a little (new girlfriend - nuff said  ), but by a strange coincidence, I'm revisiting it as a private project right now - if you're interested, drop me a pm and we can discuss it further....
C# has already designed away most of the tedium of C++.
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RichardGrimmer wrote: drop me a pm and we can discuss it further...
Done!
Marc
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Nothing nicer that "a little new girlfriend". 
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Biovia (part of Dassault) have a commercial product called Pipeline Pilot - is that the kind of thing? BIOVIA Pipeline Pilot | Scientific Workflow Authoring Application for Data Analysis[^]
There is an open-source thing called knime KNIME[^] which has a similar function.
A long time ago, Silicon Graphics had a graphical drag-and-drop programming tool that allowed users to connect componentized code together . . . Explorer I think (that hints at how long ago it was - I don't recall it being a name-clash).
Treading on the toes of giants . . .
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Interesting links! I'll dig into those some more, wish they had some screenshots (wasn't obvious if they do.)
Marc
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Ever used SSIS?
(It's dreadful.)
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Haven't seen Macromedia / Adobe Authorware mentioned yet. It was (is?) a somewhat useful (for some purposes) version of what you're proposing.
The screen looked like this.
It was an interpreted language without strong types, and kinda verbose and scripty and encouraging of poor practices, but the flowcharting was actually quite well designed. These observations come from 20 years ago, mind.
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1. Take scratch
2. Remove most of the kid-friendly shiny colors
3. Remove the cat mascot
4. Your idea fulfilled
We are talking a gaphical programming environment here, are we?
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