I do wonder why some concept likes building chips doesn't make it into visual environments? I should be able to pass a chip with inputs and outputs to others.
It does in some. Visual programming environments are common for setting up the giant sound systems (think hundreds of channels of high-quality audio) that run everything from movie theaters to conference venues to parliamentary halls to amusement parks. Some of them support encapsulation of audio or logic elements into reusable packages.
Another technique they use for abstraction before that point include one-to-n on-page connectors and multi-signal buses when the visual wires get to be too cumbersome.
Snap! supports user defined blocks, first class functions, lexical closures, eval/apply, and even call-with-current-continuation. See the summary and description I posted in reply to the GP.
Another technique they use for abstraction before that point include one-to-n on-page connectors and multi-signal buses when the visual wires get to be too cumbersome.