Visual programming languages

Conclusions

Thus far, graphical programming languages have only very restricted functionality. Like in a Lego set, they have fixed, predetermined parts with limited roles. Consequently, the tools and their languages are only suitable for very specific applications.

Etoys and Alice facilitate entry into (3D) programming, whereas Blockly serves as a macro language for your own web apps. The data flow diagrams from Tersus are useful if the web application you want to create primarily processes data – such as managing addresses or processing signals and images.

The limits of graphical programming languages are clearly shown by Lava: Although the language is flexible and powerful on a level similar to Java, developers are forced tediously to point and click to compose instructions. Drakon shows that not everything advertised as a visual programming language actually needs to be one.

Aside from Drakon and the interpreted Lava, the development environments do not produce finished programs. If you want to launch a game you have programmed in Alice, you need to register to download the development environment. Right now, visual programming languages might successfully occupy a niche, but developers can expect a long wait for their big break.

Infos

  1. Glade: https://glade.gnome.org
  2. Qt Designer: http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-5/qtdesigner-manual.html
  3. UML: http://www.omg.org/spec/UML/
  4. Etoys: http://www.squeakland.org
  5. Scratch: http://scratch.mit.edu
  6. Snap: http://snap.berkeley.edu
  7. Alice: http://www.alice.org
  8. Alice EULA: http://alice3.pbworks.com/w/page/28830524/Alice%203EULA
  9. Blockly: https://code.google.com/p/blockly/
  10. Drakon: http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net
  11. Tersus: http://www.tersus.com
  12. GNU Radion Companion: http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/GNURadioCompanion
  13. Pure Data: http://puredata.info
  14. Blender: http://www.blender.org
  15. Lava PE: http://lavape.sourceforge.net
  16. Fraunhofer Institute: http://www.fraunhofer.de/en.html
  17. Lava PE documentation: http://lavape.sourceforge.net/doc/index.htm

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