The History of Visual Development Environments 181
Esther Schindler writes "There was a time when programs were written in text editors. And when competition between C++ vendors was actually fierce. Step into the time travel machine as Andy Patrizio revisits the evolution and impact of the visual development metaphor. 'Visual development in its earliest stages was limited by what the PC could do. But for the IBM PC in the early 1980s, with its single-tasking operating system and 8- or 16-bit hardware, the previous software development process was text edit, compile, write down the errors, and debug with your eyes.' Where do you start? 'While TurboPascal launched the idea of an integrated development environment, [Jeff] Duntemann credits Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB), launched in 1991, with being the first real IDE.'... And yes, there's plenty more." A comment attached to the story lists two IDEs that preceded VB; can you name others?
VB? (Score:5, Funny)
Making managers that are "handy" think they are programmers cince 1992...
Re:Text editors are still around. (Score:2, Funny)
Plenty of unix C/C++/script/python coders still use vi and emacs.
OK, I'll bite. Real programmers use emacs.
Re:VB? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Text editors are still around. (Score:5, Funny)
Well, I used to use "cat > a.out" but the problem is that too many terminals aren't fully 8-bit capable. So I got lazy in my old age and use a hex editor instead. I know it's a bit simple minded, but since I can do all hex digits on a numeric keypad with a single hand, I've discovered that I can use my other hand to pet the cat at the same time.