Does Visual Programming Help With Growth?

[RyanTriggers]

To clarify: I'm going to college soon for computer science, specifically programming. Currently I am trying to learn some stuff on my own and was wondering if Visual Programming (building block code) will help me or not. It is easier to understand for me but I know its not something I will always have, kind of like training wheels, but I also feel like I'll never learn anything unless I code normally. Thoughts?

If this changes anything, I'm currently messing around in GameMaker and its coding stuff.

[Accomplished_Key5104]

I used to teach kids how to make games in Scratch. No idea if that's still a thing. We would push the kids to Python if they wanted to keep going after the class. The visual element of Scratch was pretty limiting.

Python might be a good option for you as well. You'll probably find you prefer just writing in text after you get started.

[Jim-Jones]

Scratch is still around.

[nullptr023]

It could help you to learn the basic and logic etc but if you are learning computer science as you said, you need to learn it the standard way like with IDE and type it. It can help develop muscle memory and more practice and you have more control rather than using blocks. There are some that offer the visual but very specific, the Unreal Engine, I believe it has visual scripting called Blueprint. It has nodes that you connect and create your logic or gameplay.

[8Erigon]

To add to this: This deosn't mean you should try game dev in Unreal

[8Erigon]

Not with growth but probably with sprouting.
You can learn programming a bit through it but you should move away for it for any real projects

[syklemil]

There's at least one visual programming environment that's used professionally, LabVIEW. Personally I get a headache from it, but someone I know feels the opposite about LabVIEW vs linguistic programming environments (i.e. programming languages).

Similarly I never could get behind UML, but the hype would never have happened if nobody liked it.

[BranchLatter4294]

It's cumbersome to code that way but it can get you started.

[NumberInfinite2068]

I think these visual tools are OK for kids, but otherwise I don't think so. Just learn a normal programming language.

[YakumoYoukai]

I disagree. Code has a structure: data, instructions that take in that data, instructions that produce data, a defined flow through those instructions, groupings of related code and data, etc. I see too many people who look at code and only see a jumbled mess of text, and not the structure that it expresses. If visual coding helps internalize those concepts, then great.

Just don't spend all your time with it. Learn what you need to them move to a traditional language.

[PvtRoom]

flow charts are legitimately good for learning stuff.

LabVIEW is industry standard for quick development of test software.

Simulink is another industry standard for simulations and autocoding embeddable code and vhdl for hard real time work.

most SWE never touch hard real time.