On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 12:57:43AM +0100, Rob T wrote: [...] > The sad part is that after all these decades, we're still _writing_ > code, and we're doing it in essentially the exact same way as was > done 30 years ago using a text editor. > > For whatever reason, no other means of constructing software > programs has really taken off, and I have to wonder why. [...]
I think it's because people have vastly underestimated (1) the complexity of programming -- it is non-trivial to reduce it to a simple, tractable paradigm, and (2) the expressive power of language -- that is, a linear medium of concept representation. It's paradoxical that a 1D (i.e. linear) representation is more useful for capturing the complexity of programming as opposed to, say, a 2D graphical representation, say, or even a 3D representation. But perhaps it's not so paradoxical if one considers that a linear representation is sufficient to capture all of programming, and processing a 2D or 3D representation adds no expressive power yet introduces more expensive processing on the part of the compiler/language processor. Or maybe it's just because humans are just linear-thinking creatures. :) T -- Verbing weirds language. -- Calvin (& Hobbes)
