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Re:Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers by Bjorkbat on Tuesday June 11, 2024 @09:50PM (#40653678)
I largely agree with you. Spreadsheets are arguably the most successful no-code/low-code tool out there in that they've enabled millions of people to automate some task or complex process and effectively become programmers, despite the fact that I personally find an empty spreadsheet to be kind of intimidating to look at.

I think the only point of disagreement we might have is that I don't necessarily think that the speadsheet, even an improved one, is the best graphical model/structure for articulating complex processes, but it seems to be the best we've discovered thus far.

Re:Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers by shagie on Tuesday June 11, 2024 @10:45PM (#40653962)
A spreadsheet is lisp under the covers. Be it =IF(test, then, else) or (if test then else) - that's just syntax of a functional language dialect.
Re:Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers by liampulles on Wednesday June 12, 2024 @01:52AM (#40654968)
"I don't necessarily think that the speadsheet, even an improved one, is the best graphical model/structure for articulating complex processes, but it seems to be the best we've discovered thus far."

I actually do agree with you on that, as you say its just the best we've discovered so far. But if there is a better model which is as versatile and easy to use, I'm totally open to it.

Re:Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers by jdougan on Wednesday June 12, 2024 @05:37PM (#40663439)
I think Lotus Improv was on to something.