9.6.09

 

Subtext

A visual programming language based on decision tables. This video describes unifying conditionals, switch statements, and polymorphism. Although the author, Jonathan Edwards, never mentions it, the language appears to be functional (although he compiles into Java).

Comments:
I am glad you find Subtext worth mentioning. Indeed it is (pure lazy) functional, but it is interpreted. I use an unconventional formalism of tree deltas rather than lambda calculus. Lately I have been working on adding reactivity (http://www.coherence-lang.org/Onward09.pdf).
 
That's the first time I've seen subtext.

There must be a killer-app for that interface. Maybe writing functions for spreadsheets?
 
I think one "killer app" might be business rules. If you think of all of the mobile phone plans or insurance policies that a company might provide, the logic that has to implement them can get quite complex.

But I think this is beside the point. The point is that programming seems like it might be an inherently two-dimensional problem, and we've been doing it the wrong way all this time.
 
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