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HN · ProgrammingCurated

A future of programming as seen from 1973

Summary

Bret Victor presents modern interactive programming ideas as a historical prediction and calls for better media for thinking and feedback. The talk was given at DBX in 2013. The presentation stages a perspective from 1973.

Ideas

  • Direct manipulation connects program state and visible result.
  • Time travel makes past execution states examinable.
  • Graphical representations show data moving rather than just source code.
  • Programming environments can provide explanations while you work.

Insights

  • New tools for thought often need new forms of representation.
  • Fast feedback changes which experiments become economical.
  • Source code is only one possible interface to computation.

Facts

  • Many examples react immediately to changes.

Recommendations

  • Build debug views for central data flows.
  • Shorten the loop between a change and an observable result.

References

Read the original article

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