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While block based programing environments like this make programming look easier at first glance, I'm unconvinced they actually make things easier. For instance, I don't really see how the example screen is different than something like the following:

  when Button1.Click 
  do 
    TinyDB.StoreValue(tag: SearchQueries, valueToStore: TextBox1.text)
    Label1.text = TextBox1.text

Text also has the advantage that you can manipulate it in standard ways - such as copying and pasting it.

The difficulty in programing is understanding the abstraction, and thinking algorithmically. Displaying programs in a nice GUI won't make that easier.

3 comments

A GUI won’t make programming easier in the long run, but it will probably make it look less intimidating to newbies. Ideally, Google would offer a “text mode” with an API equivalent to the block mode so that users could upgrade after they have been “suckered in” by the easygoing look of blocks and learned a bit more about abstractions and algorithms.

I think the main advantage might be that you have a palette of operations your program could perform next and clues (from the shape and colors) about which operations make sense in a given context, which makes it easier to explore. Text is much more open-ended and doesn't suggest anything (although I guess that intelligent completion in the editor can provide similar benefits).

Good points. Text also allows for version control; although AppInventor is targeted towards newbies, a graphical-based IDE is going to be challenging when you're trying to diff between two seemingly-identical versions.