prog-ui

02 Oct 2022 - 02 Oct 2022

Status: incomplete thoughts, very closely related to visual programming and probably should be merged. Copied from org-roam Oct 2nd, 2022

Title is meant to be a catch all for things that involve programming languages and user interface.

I՚d argue that there is really no difference between these two things. A PL is a UI, it provides a conceptual surface underneath which there is machinery which can be mostly-ignored.

I՚m reading right now this old paper by Michael Eisenberg, Programmable Applications: Interpreter Meets Interface. It՚s not that remarkable a paper (in that its insight seems kind of obvious), but it makes the above point very thoroughly.

(Eisenberg sadly died in 2019 In memory of … – Sheppard Craft Tech Lab)

The basic idea:there are direct manipulation apps (drawing, music, etc) but they aren՚t programmable, there are programming langauges but they lack convenient dm interfaces, put them together, magic.