

Using Virtual Reality to Create Software: A Likely Future - chrisparnin
https://medium.com/@anthonyE_vr/using-virtual-reality-to-create-software-a-likely-future-9c4472108289

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jccooper
Infinitely large virtual monitors will be useful, since programming usually
requires a large amount of context. But that'll probably work better with AR
goggles so that you can actually have some real world context for your input
devices. Because you'll still be using a keyboard, and probably a mouse,
because waving your hands around in the air and talking to the computer are
always going to be slower and less precise.

And, no, I don't want to throw my functions in a pile on the ground and sort
through them.

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Gurkenmaster
There are also very simple usecases: Graphics tablets with screens are pretty
expensive (Wacom). With AR it would be possible to simply use a bigger and
cheaper one without a screen.

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falcolas
VR and Dataflow programming would be a really natural fit, based on the
concepts they are showing here. Dataflow programming with a good UI displays
physical objects which represent functions, and lets the developer connect the
pipes, as it were.

Throw in an editor which lets you open up the objects and change the wiring
inside, and you could have a very powerful yet intuitive, method of
programming in a VR.

Imagine this in VR: [http://youtu.be/VX1YnrW-v0Y](http://youtu.be/VX1YnrW-v0Y)

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anthonye
Article writer here - thanks for the comments. I think the key for VR is that
it will be awesome for specific domains (e.g. game development) but won't show
much benefit to general programming.

Once VR has become more commonplace then I see it integrating more and more
into programming as it becomes useful in other scenarios.

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mistercow
I don't feel like any truly compelling applications of VR were presented here.
I find it plausible that _eventually_ we'll find ways to leverage VR
effectively for development, but we've still barely managed to make a _mouse_
useful for coding, so it feels like it's probably a long way off.

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breckinloggins
I feel that it will start with developers using VR/AR tech to make an
"infinitely large monitor" workstation (once the resolution and focus
mechanics are good enough).

Only once such setups are ubiquitous will we start seeing code break free from
the confines of 2 dimensional text. But in general, I agree with you. Most
coders today still rely on environments that essentially assume the teletype
as the lowest common denominator.

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al2o3cr
I'm confident in my prediction that ten years from now, people will be writing
articles predicting that VR will be the future of software creation in ten
years.

Basically the Y combinator applied to futurists.

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vgrichina
State of the art development workflows fail to utilize possibilities of high-
resolution 2d displays (using concepts are rooted in times of plaintext
terminals). So I don't see VR coming to programming any time soon.

