[fizzynut]

Yeah the main issues with visual programming are:

- Logic tends to take up a lot more screen space than real code

- There is no defined way to read the code. In real code you start top left and read left to right and down, but in visual code if there are lots of "paths" then your eyes end up darting around everywhere.

[ciarcode]

In automotive, development of control algorithms for the engine is entirely “visual”, through simulink/matlab. You design the model on simulink, then it generates the C code. I don’t have direct experience outside the automotive sector, but I believe that this approach is used in other sectors like aerospace. Maybe designing models is better than writing low level code for control algorithms?

[archi42]

Yes, IIRC some aerospace companies also use simulink. It's popular with safety critical stuff.

> Maybe designing models is better than writing low level code for control algorithms?

If you need both the code and the model, then generating the code from the model is also much easier than proving that your handwritten C code behaves exactly like the model used for verification. Having visual control flow for complex control systems might be less error prone than manually writing C (or Rust or Zig or $flavour_of_the_day) code. You probably know that, but other folks shouldn't forget that automotive and aerospace control software often means "programming errors might result in people getting injured or worse".

[liketochill]

In power generation control when electrical engineers are discussing or analyzing the behavior of a governor or exciter block diagrams representing transfer functions are used. I would program turbine controls primarily in function block diagrams since it a great visual representation of the algorithms that makes It easy for some one to understand and observe how it works. I started with computer programming and it was quite an adjustment in my way of thinking to implement algorithms this way but no question it is the right tool for the job in controls.

[wolpoli]

I don't have any experience in the automotive sector. But when you say that the development of control algorithms for the engine are visual, I immediately thought finite state machine. My question: Are they finite state machines or is there more to it than that?

[gmadsen]

Depending on how complex, it would be a hybrid system. You have finite discrete states, but also continuous dynamics that need to be controlled (like a PID)

Control systems have always been designed in a connected box fashion. Before gui software existed. Visual coding is just an extension of what was being done on a blackboard

[themoonisachees]

The single most important point that is keeping visual programming from ever being taken seriously in corporate settings is the fact that there are currently no version control compatible with it (for good reason). You can't collaborate without version control.

[habeyer]

Text characters are always going to be way more concise than their visual representations.