programming-languagesparadigmssubtextvisual-programming

Name this (2-D, logic-table-like, visual) programming language/paradigm (Subtext/Example Centric Programming)


I remember stumbling upon a video clip introducing a new programming "language" and a paradigm. The "language" was 2D and visual in nature, and therefore tightly coupled with its IDE and interpreter in the video.

It started out like a truth table but got more complicated. Conditionals were represented in the X axis and the flow in the Y axis of the program.

For example, to build an "absolute value" function, one defined inputs and outputs, let's call them integer I and integer O. Clicking on I allowed one to define a subcase, say I < (const). One then entered 0 as the constant and the I column split into two: I < 0 and I >= 0. One connected both to O, one of them through a neg function and got the absolute value function.

The point was that missing cases were immediately and visually identifiable; defining two cases x < 0 and x > 0 immediately split the x column into three and if you forgot to connect the x = 0 case to the output, it would be obvious.

This is about as brief as I can be while still supplying enough information for people to identify and/or get interested about the language, so I'll cut it here. It may look like it only solves some specific problems to do with conditionals and logic, but I remember the "language" being strong enough to be a paradigm on its own.

The video also made some good points about how modern programming wasn't that much different from what it was some 50+ years ago, i.e. typing text, which is fundamentally 1-D, on a teletype.

Question: What's the name of the language/paradigm/IDE/interpreter?

I'm mainly looking [for the name] to find and watch the video again, so I can discuss it with my current colleagues. If you have more to say about it, we can turn this question into a community wiki and start discussing.


Solution

  • Perhaps you are talking about Subtext?

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