Traditional visual programming environments are rarely used in professional software development. A new approach that focuses on the real visualization needs of developers could change this.
Visual programming has not yet achieved the hoped-for breakthrough in professional software development. According to a recent analysis by Sebastian Bensusan, this is because most visual programming environments try to replace code syntax and business logic – areas that experienced developers already master efficiently in textual form.
Bensusan argues that the key to visual programming success is to focus on aspects that developers actually want to visualize. These include:
1. State transitions in state machines
2. Storage layouts
3. Network queries and topologies
4. Codebase visualizations
5. Protocol flows in swimlane diagrams
These areas are often implicit and difficult to understand, which is why developers often resort to self-created visualizations. Bensusan emphasizes that these visualizations are usually created ad hoc and are rarely integrated into standard workflows.
He cites the DOM Element Inspector, flamegraphs in profilers, and SQL table charts as positive examples of successful integrations. He argues that similar visualization tools could add significant value to other aspects of software development.
Bensusan suggests that developers of visualization tools should focus on these practical areas rather than trying to visualize the entire programming process. He sees great potential in automatically generating such visualizations from existing code bases, type definitions or test suites.
This approach could not only improve productivity and understanding in complex software projects, but also represent the long-awaited breakthrough for visual programming in professional development environments.
Source: www.com-magazin.de
