Flow Chart Programming

[albireo961]

Hi, guys! That "little tool" for programming by drawing schematic diagram well known as flowchart was created by one professor who (as in my experience of teaching programming is quite similar...) wanted to stop inexperienced students in programming doing programs by coding (before thinking...). Most amateurs and cowboy programmers use to make programs without any clear idea of what they want to do and how to organize it. Every computer program is based on data (on input, whatever it is) and flow of that data meta-morphing in resultant data. It is a very abstract process which will be realized in chosen programming language. But, programing language is just a tool for expression of our program!! That means we have created program before coding! That's the idea of Flow Chart Diagram. One can draw a detailed diagram of some particular mathematical algorithm or you can draw some general Block Diagrams to represent a global flow of the program.
So, Flowgorithm is here to accept that, at last, correct way of producing good quality software. It allows us to see a draft of the coded solution in different programming languages.
Flowgorithm IS NOT a tool for making some complete applications, although it's possible in some simplified level.
It's here to understand what we really want to do with data flowing from input till output!
There is a name for "method" of creating programs by insane iterative coding and try-and-error catching a good solution - "cowboy coding method" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_coding)

[BasicCoder2]

Have had fun playing with flowgorithm although I find the loop structures less than clear.
The part I liked most was comparing the code generated for different languages that produced exactly the same behavior.
Imagine only having to learn one simple BASIC like language which was powerful enough to be translated to any other language.
.

[bfuller]

Yes,

it is the translation into all the different common languages that I found interesting too. I could compare (almost side by side) the same algorithm implemented into C++ and BASIC and others, thus making the language structure obvious---and I found that apart from the language overhead and syntax, the actual commands were very similar---to be expected I suppose.

[dodicat]

All this flow chart stuff is very interesting indeed, kinda methodical I suppose.
But reading albireo961's post and his mention of cowboy coding.
I looked it up, and yep!, that's the one for me.

[BasicCoder2]

As I wrote previously the big thing about what would simply have been an educational program is being able to translate an flowgorithm program into a a program written in another language. Makes me think of the ability to hit a translate button for a web page. If I was going to write my own BASIC language I would "simply" compile it by using C templates to allow it to be automatically translated into C source code and compile that. If you wanted a OO version of a BASIC language you could use C++ templates.
.

[dodicat]

Hey dafhi, where are you, back at the ranch?
Where's your shootin' post?

[dafhi]

xD

I felt BasicCoder was right, yet my pistol-waving was too simple for a demo. Anyway I'm rewriting my 'represent image with circles' (hill-climbing demo)

[Trinity]

Interesting , but honestly I don't think that that kind of tools would be worth the bother for any other reason than giving people that have a hard time understanding programming a more visual aid .
For a programmer I think that complex tasks would take more time to figure out how to get the visual aid program to do than it would to write ones own code or edit/reuse ones own code or free code from donors...

[bfuller]

That's why I posted in the beginners forum. Some of us never get past that stage LOL.