Ivan Reese 2023-12-15 05:35:59 A lovely tribute to Yahoo Pipes written by the inimitable Glenn Fleishman appeared on the Retool site today.
Every Pipes’ mapping was public; every Pipe could be copied and modified. “That was design principle one for us, and I think that had a lot to do with making it accessible to non-developers,” Sadri said. This openness that encouraged—really, required—knowledge-sharing embodied some of the internet’s best qualities that were on the verge of being lost at that time.
Guyren Howe 2023-12-15 08:59:09 This raises I think a frankly pretty important question for me: why do things like this fail?
This isn’t the only effort along these lines. There have been many. Apple ships two — Automator and Shortcuts.
About my strongest belief about this industry is that we have failed badly at enabling non-programmers to do computing. Excel and FileMaker describe the two main limits, and they’re both about 30 years old.
But when I try to invent ways of moving forward, a lot of them look like Pipes.
Why hasn’t something like this succeeded?
Ivan Reese 2023-12-15 14:02:13 Has Shortcuts failed? If so, what was its expectation of success that it didn't achieve?
Christopher Galtenberg 2023-12-15 20:25:12 HyperCard didn't fail, Pipes failed, Shortcuts hasn't yet failed – probably maps to their aspirations
Guyren Howe 2023-12-15 20:27:13 Hypercard is no more. There are clones, but who uses them?
By “fail” I mean “fail to become commonly used”, “fail to take over the world as it maybe should”.
Christopher Galtenberg 2023-12-15 20:32:00 It's a boring question and bad framing, whoever's equipped the mindset of "enabling non-programmers" has failed harder than most failures
Start from "a great tool" - Pipes wasn't one - future great tools will be used by many types of people in many unexpected ways
Ivan Reese 2023-12-15 20:36:14 If "commonly used" is the desired success criteria, then WidgetSmith (100m downloads — and made by a solo developer, at that) is probably the most successful bit of malleable software this side of excel.
abeyer 2023-12-16 00:40:47
Excel and FileMaker describe the two main limits, and they’re both about 30 years old
Is that a failure, or just a big early success?
Eli Mellen 2023-12-16 03:59:15 I use a HyperCard clone like ‘er day :dotted_line_face: but I’m also here? 🤷♂️
Jimmy Miller 2023-12-16 22:28:24
Different programming languages feel viscerally different, right? I can’t be the only one. It’s so embodied.
When I’m deep in multiple nested parentheses in a C-like language, even Python, I feel precarious, like I’m walking a high wire or balancing things in my hands and picking my way down steep stairs. It’s a relief to close the braces.
The subjective experience of coding in different programming languages
Marcelle Rusu (they/them) 2023-12-17 19:07:49 I've tried to write about this
To me what's most exciting about creating a language is creating a feeling / world to live in that is deeply subjective
Like creating an album, or a movie, or a painting, software has an opportunity to explore what it would be like to physically manifest a feeling & share it with each other
And importantly, the consistency you are able to do this, I've found strongly correlates to the quality of the program.
This indicates that software is in fact an art form & should be treated & critiqued with similar attitudes as other art forms.
This doesn't negate more formal critique, but it should be an integral part of evaluating software quality.
Andreas S. 2023-12-17 21:32:57 Hello 🙋♂️ future of coding.
I came across this some time ago but I still think it’s worthwhile sharing,
It showed for me how one the one hand the ethical decline of google went from “don’t be evil- to… what ever it is today that’s their guiding principle. But also more importantly how a change in company culture also reflected on technical innovation.
ln.hixie.ch/?start=1700627373&count=1
Andreas S. 2023-12-18 06:56:53 Sure! It showed for me how one the one hand the ethical decline of google went from “don’t be evil- to… what ever it is today that’s their guiding principle. But also more importantly how a change in company culture also reflected on technical innovation.
Konrad Hinsen 2023-12-18 08:20:42
It's definitely not too late to heal Google. It would require some shake-up at the top of the company...
I think it would require decoupling Google from capitalism. Not likely to happen any time soon (but in the long term... who known?)
Andreas S. 2023-12-18 08:23:12 I agree it’s not very likely. Silicon Valley is a strange place. I doubt they will challenge capitalism .. but who knows
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