A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts

Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by Joker_vD on Monday August 29, 2022 @10:05AM (#32638407)

About 47 years ago Dijkstra wrote his infamous "How do we tell truths that might hurt?" memo which contained this dubious claim, among other dijkstrisms:

    It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.

    The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.

Of course, one can write off that quote simply as Dijkstra's typical arrogance and over-exaggeration (and hey, who even uses BASIC or COBOL any more?) but every time I see attempts to carry the CSS experience over to other areas, or just the "CSS is amazing, why do you all not see it?" attitude, I get an uneasy feeling that he might've actually been on to something.

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by chrisweekly on Monday August 29, 2022 @10:50AM (#32638984)

Most CSS, as authored, is a maintenance nightmare full of kludges. So I can understand your take. But (as someone who's been building and improving websites since 1998), I don't blame CSS per se. The problem is developers who haven't learned it properly trying to be the browser's micromanager instead of its mentor. Take a look at https://every-layout.dev to see CSS in a new light; it's profoundly compelling, powerful, and elegant.

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by jonahx on Monday August 29, 2022 @11:47AM (#32639637)

It has gotten more tolerable with flex and grid, but no, the problem is not primarily developers' lack of moral virtue. The design of CSS has deep problems. The most thoughtful critique I've seen is still Bret Victors in Magic Ink. While the piece is old and CSS has improved a lot since then, the basic points are all still relevant:

http://worrydream.com/MagicInk/#p255

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by mixmastamyk on Monday August 29, 2022 @12:57PM (#32640536)

Fantastic... a blank page. Agree it is elegant, but not particularly compelling.

I needed to read the source html to see what it was about. Pentagrams in the source, btw.

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by chrisweekly on Monday August 29, 2022 @05:17PM (#32643665)

Blank page? Strange. Try https://every-layout.dev/rudiments/boxes/

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by mixmastamyk on Monday August 29, 2022 @07:25PM (#32644820)

Looks like it was white on white after all, I managed to get some contrast haha. I've seen this site before. Thanks.

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Re:A CSS-Inspired Syntax for Flowcharts by fwip on Monday August 29, 2022 @07:53PM (#32645021)

CSS the language is pretty great.

All of the hacks and warts around the specifics of rendering for the browser? Pretty bad.

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