Since the late fifties, digital computers, even when they weighed several tons and filled entire climate-controlled rooms, have always received their instructions in text form. These instructions differ from spoken languages by their restricted syntax, since the machines that they are meant for must first convert them into simplified mathematical operations. Of course, with progress we have gone from machine language programming in octal or hexadecimal notation to assembler and to modern languages like COBOL, FORTRAN, C, BASIC or JavaScript which allow programmers to concentrate on finishing their projects faster instead of focusing on the intricacies of the machines themselves.
With the spread of multimedia, windowing systems and the invention of the mouse near the late seventies, some researchers wondered if it wouldn’t be more efficient if computers could be programmed by drawing easily understood diagrams instead of writing pages upon pages of text for these machines. Even though this method of programming hasn’t really been democratized yet, there are now several software programs that have been created to allow for a truly visual way of programming computers.
Apple Automator:
The most widespread visual programming software is Automator, which is distributed for free inside every Macintosh computer from Apple Corporation. With it, people can create workflows to automate simple tasks such as the resizing of photos in a folder, the automatic connection to servers and the download of files that might be there or the automatic reformatting of documents. However the extreme simplification of this software rarely enables the creation of more complex programs. To program games or more serious calculation software, other programs are needed.
Automator
(Image from WikiMedia)