If you've not looked at Yahoo Pipes yet, I urge you to do so.
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
It's a visual programming language implemented in AJAX which
allows mash-ups of structured data (RSS feeds, CSV files, or
data from search queries).
I heard about them a few months ago but only looked at them
a few days ago and I am really intrigued by them.
On the face of it, it looks like an end-user programming
language: you drag components to a work area and link them
together.
Includes:
- loops
- regex
- debugging
- basic string functions
- you can view anyone's else's source
- you can close anyone else's pipe
Doesn't include:
- conditionals
- comments
- print code
I jumped in without reading any documentation and created some
pipes to filter some of my RSS feeds. I then created a pipe to
filter various World news feeds by matching keywords.
I dragged over a 'fetch feed' module for each feed and connected
them to a 'union' module before filtering the content. Here's
an example of someone else's pipe source using multiple 'fetch
feed' modules with 'union':
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.edit?_id=9sKn_wS92xGibMP20kqv4w
The next day, I realised that the 'fetch feed' module's "+" sign
meant I could add a new feed and didn't need union:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.edit?_id=2DaWVCUm3BGKbcpXE5PZnA
I then made a pair of general-purpose RSS feed filters, one which
blocks items matching keywords and one which allows items matching
keywords. I'd like to combine them by adding a new user input of
block/allow and then include a conditional in my pipe. I haven't
figured out how to do that yet. I'm struck that learning Yahoo
Pipes is about getting my head around a new way of thinking about
constructing programs.
The programming language poses some interesting questions:
+ does layout impact comprehension?
+ is the language easier to learn by non-programmers?
+ how will the people who learn Yahoo Pipes at their first
programming language fare when moving to a traditional language?
My pipes
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/person.info?eyuid=II0yTy4jqWyGnqg8FsNLRz2rIw--
Paola
--
http://www.paolability.com/
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