

Show HN: Pt, an experiment on visual forms - metaphorical
http://williamngan.github.io/pt/

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hacker_9
I enjoyed the demos - I'm not exactly sure why, but I guess it felt like I was
making a lot happen when really I was just moving the mouse around.

I think that, when you step back from programming in text, and think of it as
'creating ideas' you realise that we've barely scratched the surface. Often
when I solve problems in my head it's a mix of visual/verbal thoughts with
past memories thrown in too. Your demos show that visualization is a powerful
tool, but how do you make it useful?

Being able to see the world and visualise is like the base code for being a
human, but computers are all math and text. Bringing visualization to
programming is surely the next step. Already the cogs are turning to try and
bring realtime REPLs to IDEs (such as light table, and visual studio code
online) in order to see data as you code. I imagine from here the next step
would to be able to visualise that data beyond text, and be able to edit the
visualization and see the code change as a result.

~~~
metaphorical
You described the problem very well. When I thought of an idea, it's indeed
visual/verbal with memories thrown in. Then when I sit down to code, I have to
worry about putting curly braces in the correct places before anything else.

Though I'm not sure if a "visual" IDE will solve this. To me, it's more about
a language that can express thoughts with clarity and directness, and also
about a kind of literacy in code as poets would have with words and meters.

Sometimes I kept thinking about those stone axes and clay tablets and
scribbles on bones, and how, in a couple thousand years, they evolved into
lolcats. Given this explosion of technology, what sort of new expressions in
code will we see in 10-20 years? It's fascinating to think about.

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metaphorical
This is a side project I've been working on for a couple years (when not
playing video games :P). I hope you'll give it a try, and I would appreciate
your feedbacks. Thanks!

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veli_joza
Nice looking demos, very easy on eyes. The "triangle.oppositeSide" is already
half way to a puzzle game.

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fiatjaf
I don't understand it, but it is awesome.

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victorantos
it looks cool! can you make it like an embeddable widget?

