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    Graphical- And Text-Based Programming: Complementary, Not Competitive

    Sept. 1, 2006
    Most programmers have a favorite text-based programming language. Some programmers even get rather vocal when it comes to defending their favorite's pros and cons. In fact, the only thing that most programmers can agree upon is that it's a good idea to av

    Most programmers have a favorite text-based programming language. Some programmers even get rather vocal when it comes to defending their favorite's pros and cons. In fact, the only thing that most programmers can agree upon is that it's a good idea to avoid mixing languages during development.

    The same level of loyalty can be found with graphical-based programming languages. That's because data and control flow representations tend to be more natural. Many programmers stay within a graphical language when they're developing applications. But graphical- and text-based programming are much more complementary than most developers realize.

    It's already common to use graphical tools to create forms, manipulate databases, and configure systems. The level of programming tends to be very limited in these cases. Yet the interaction between the results of these tools and the associated text-based code can greatly simplify application development. Some tools work best from a visual standpoint.

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    About the Author

    William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

    I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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    I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.  

    I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence. 

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