ANNOUNCE: Introducing Sifflet, visual functional programming language
Introducing Sifflet -- version 0.1.5, first public release! Sifflet is a visual, functional programming language. Sifflet programmers define functions by drawing diagrams. Sifflet shows how a function call is evaluated on the diagram. It is intended as an aid for learning about recursion. * A picture explains Sifflet better than words: please see the screenshot showing how to evaluate 3!: http://mypage.iu.edu/~gdweber/software/sifflet/home.html * Features: - Visual editor. - Visual tracer/debugger which shows how function calls are evaluated -- including recursive calls, of course. -- This is an active learning process: Sifflet doesn't overwhelm students with a huge trace of function calls; it provides only as much expansion as the student requests. - Extensive tutorial with 6,348 words and 31 pictures -- so hey, it's worth 37,348 words! (but not 37,348! words) - Number, string, and list data types. - Palette with a small number of primitive functions. - Runnable examples of compound functions. * Download: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/sifflet * Home page: http://mypage.iu.edu/~gdweber/software/sifflet/home.html * Tutorial: http://mypage.iu.edu/~gdweber/software/sifflet/doc/tutorial.html -- ___ ___ __ _ / _ \ / _ \| | | | Gregory D. Weber, Associate Professor / /_\// / | | | /\ | | Indiana University East / /_\\/ /__| | |/ \| | http://mypage.iu.edu/~gdweber/ \____/\_____/\___/\__/ Tel. (765) 973-8420; FAX (765) 973-8550
On 14 May 2010 11:50, Gregory D. Weber <gdweber@iue.edu> wrote:
Introducing Sifflet -- version 0.1.5, first public release!
Sifflet is a visual, functional programming language. Sifflet programmers define functions by drawing diagrams. Sifflet shows how a function call is evaluated on the diagram. It is intended as an aid for learning about recursion.
So is Sifflet meant to be a full-featured programming language used for "real world" programs? If so, how well does it scale? -- Ivan Lazar Miljenovic Ivan.Miljenovic@gmail.com IvanMiljenovic.wordpress.com
No, it's aimed at beginning-level programming students, especially those who are struggling with the idea of recursion. So, not only is it not intended as a full-featured real world programming language, but it is definitely not suited for that purpose: -- Very small set of build-in functions. -- Currently, no way to handle higher-order functions or local variables (let or where expressions). -- Interpreted. -- Stack size limited to 1000. Of course, that could be changed, but the limit is there for a reason: if a beginning programmer writes a function that is called recursively 1000 times before it gets to the base case, it's probably an error (infinite recursion). Greg On 2010-May-14, Ivan Miljenovic wrote:
On 14 May 2010 11:50, Gregory D. Weber <gdweber@iue.edu> wrote:
Introducing Sifflet -- version 0.1.5, first public release!
Sifflet is a visual, functional programming language. Sifflet programmers define functions by drawing diagrams. Sifflet shows how a function call is evaluated on the diagram. It is intended as an aid for learning about recursion.
So is Sifflet meant to be a full-featured programming language used for "real world" programs? If so, how well does it scale?
-- Ivan Lazar Miljenovic Ivan.Miljenovic@gmail.com IvanMiljenovic.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ Haskell mailing list Haskell@haskell.org http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/haskell
-- ___ ___ __ _ / _ \ / _ \| | | | Gregory D. Weber, Associate Professor / /_\// / | | | /\ | | Indiana University East / /_\\/ /__| | |/ \| | http://mypage.iu.edu/~gdweber/ \____/\_____/\___/\__/ Tel. (765) 973-8420; FAX (765) 973-8550
participants (2)
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Gregory D. Weber -
Ivan Miljenovic