

Review of Android's App Inventor - ed
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/12/android-app-inventor-demo/

======
pwim
While block based programing environments like this make programming look
easier at first glance, I'm unconvinced they actually make things easier. For
instance, I don't really see how the example screen is different than
something like the following:

    
    
      when Button1.Click 
      do 
        TinyDB.StoreValue(tag: SearchQueries, valueToStore: TextBox1.text)
        Label1.text = TextBox1.text
    

Text also has the advantage that you can manipulate it in standard ways - such
as copying and pasting it.

The difficulty in programing is understanding the abstraction, and thinking
algorithmically. Displaying programs in a nice GUI won't make that easier.

~~~
roryokane
A GUI won’t make programming easier in the long run, but it will probably make
it look less intimidating to newbies. Ideally, Google would offer a “text
mode” with an API equivalent to the block mode so that users could upgrade
after they have been “suckered in” by the easygoing look of blocks and learned
a bit more about abstractions and algorithms.

