Free As In Speech, Great As In Mind; Or, Visual Programming As A Right, And Great Idea
Perhaps, some day, open source developers, will change their licenses to prevent their software being used for harm and greed.
But even today, there is something even better, and that is Visual Programming Environments.
Free, Great and Inspired software, that can modify and extend it self visually.
It does not require knowledge of programming, as it comes with easy on-ramps, and it is powerful.
The best maybe somewhat streched example I can come up with, aside from moneymaking, home and AI automation.
Is a man in the middle proxy that holds good potential to decrypt traffic, and extracts all the data traveling to the user’s browsers.
So even if web browsers become encrypted, and fully buttoned up walled gardens.
There may be a way for the user to automate, interacting with whatever websites…
The crippled browsers of the future, allow to visit, upon injecting pages of ads.
This creates a box in the visual programming language, that when activated, begins streaming, comments, and memes, and news.
Bypassing their annoying user interface, and presenting an opportunity to create a new one.
Now, this is a somewhat embellished example, as users wouldn't want to post their ideas on a censored website.
But this is a good example, of the power of a visual programming language.
It is not a tool for extracting data, it is not even an alternative browser.
Visual Programming, is just programming made friendly and accessible to all.
Some will play with meme extraction, while other with creating philosophical forums for AI philosophers.
Who will try to create, or re-create (as history is written by the victors), the plausible works of Socrates – all his inspired books.
The point is power, power to stand up to corporate dead end delusion.
To take education in your own hands, learn programming for real!
As opposed pretend to learn in school, by just passing the tests.
Going over the ever growing libraries of actions in such programs, would drive invention and even ignite inspiration.
Building websites, would take afternoons, social networks, days, creating applications that ask for membership weeks, not months or years.
Programming is a way out of poverty, but Visual Programming gets you there sooner.
There is no need to talk about what specific applications can be created, because the number of ideas is precisely infinite.
Programming is a language, that has been denied to you, visual programming is the much needed dictionary that works.
In the very end, a Visual Programming Language, is a right, it is necessary in the age of computers.
That we don’t each own one, the way we customize our desktops, is an oversight, a mistake.
If you are a programmer, I encourage you to begin building your dream VPL, that you can share with humanity.
And if you are still learning programming, join the revolution, and learn with an aim to make a VPL the first large application you deploy.