Thanks Uzo. Pity.
ThinDinh:
TLDR: I wanted to compare a Glide solution of a benchmark to solutions in some other languages.
Long version: a while back (1989) I published a paper on ‘Cognitive Dimensions of Notations’ describing one way to assess usability of programming languages, spreadsheets, and other notations. In 1996 I co-authored a paper comparing two graphical programming languages of the day, LabView and Prograph, against Basic, a vanilla textual imperative language. We looked at various aspects, and later reported some empirical studies, comparing time taken to answer comprehension questions, time taken to modify a program, etc. The graphical languages had pros and cons, as was to be expected. Some of the comparisons used versions of a program to compute the path of a rocket, first used by Bill Curtis in a similar comparison of textual languages. Glide seems to have a slightly different set of pros and cons from the languages we studied and it would be interesting to make a more detailed comparison, using the equivalent materials. Of course thinking has moved on since then; for example we didn’t consider ‘liveness’, nor a few other concepts that have emerged since then.
Here is the rocket program in its basic version:
Mass = 10000
Fuel = 50
Force = 400000
Gravity = 32
WHILE Vdist >= 0
IF Tim = 11 THEN Angle = .3941
IF Tim > 100 THEN Force = 0 ELSE Mass = Mass – Fuel
Vaccel = Force*COS(Angle)/Mass – Gravity
Vveloc = Vveloc + Vaccel
Vdist = Vdist + Vveloc
Haccel = Force*SIN(Angle)/Mass
Hveloc = Hveloc + Haccel
Hdist = Hdist + Hveloc
PRINT Tim, Vdist, Hdist
Tim = Tim + 1
WEND
STOP
Green, T. R. G. and Petre, M. (1996) Usability analysis of visual programming environments: a cognitive dimensions framework. J. Visual Languages and Visual Computing 7, 131-174.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
PS I do realise that mathematical programming is not where Glide’s main interests lie, at least at present, and that any usability analysis should also consider domains where it shines, such as the ‘DIY Project Management App’.
And I’d also like to make it clear that I’m very impressed with Glide.