Calum Grant

Visual programming

Today I saw a "rival" visual programming system.

http://www.powware.com

I was scared. A VPL I hadn't heard of? What if it was better than Visula?

Unfortunately it turned out to be a load of hot air. It was a bunch of bold assertions such as

"Powware is the leader in visual programming"
"dramatically reduce the development time"
"revolutionary new capability"
"reduce bugs and dramatically improve software quality"
"best minds in the field of visual programming"

Which basically means it is pipedream, not reality. I enjoyed their demo, but all they achieved was a "hello world" program. Big bloody deal.

That's the fundamental issue with visual programming. The trade-off between simplicty and complexity. If a system is too simple, it can be used by end-users, but only trivial things can be achieved. If a system is too complex, you can achieve more, but end-users won't be catered for. Maybe there is a sweet-spot where end-users can program, but I doubt it for various reasons. Many VPLs are aimed at end-users, with the inevitable result that the systems are too trivial for real-world use. They deliberately lack the machinery necessary for scaling up the problem.

posted by Calum Grant @ 7:47 PM