

Subtext programming language - demo screencast - domnit
http://subtextual.org/subtext2.html

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collin
Ah! I was hoping somebody had submitted something about subtext.

I just finished up my submission today and subtext is relevant to the idea.

I'm big on visual tools. From everything I've read and experienced I believe
we should be expressing our instructions to computers in a more visual manner.

I can get non-programmers to "just get" the tree-view/node highlighting in
firebug. Those same people see one hacking at html and wonder aloud how you
can have any idea what it all means.

I can explain REST to my mother and it just makes sense, but her "programming"
experience stops at a spreadsheet.

I make the point about the spreadsheet intentionally. A spreadsheet to manage
what furniture goes on a shipping container, and in what order based on the
distance to deliver is quite a complex set of requirements for an application.

But my mother, partner in a small furniture company, does just that sort of
thing regularly. I do think there is something to be said for the amazing
feats one can undertake when it is required. But I'd really like to make a
point about the importance of spacial thinking.

When I program I only get one dimension for my instruction set. It goes from
the start of the file to the end of the file. I may have some tricky control
flow structures, but I still have to represent them in a wholly linear
fashion.

Whereas my mother, with her spreadsheet gets two spatial dimensions to think
in. She can even put multiple planes right next to each other.

Our minds are wired to interpret spatial(visual) information. Thats why my
mother can easily solve complex, unique problems with a spreadsheet and
wouldn't even want to read a "real" program. And yet, if we can allow
oureselves some perspective, they are really the same thing. A human's
instructions to get a machine to solve problems.

I would never expect my mother to create space-shuttle software or anything
like that. But she, and I'm sure untold millions like her are better equipped
than some programmer to understand the requirements of their business'
problems.

The spreadsheet was great when computers were for crunching numbers. But in
this wild world of the web, I think it's time my mother had a better tool.

