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Future of Coding
Pygmalion by David C. Smith
Jun 19, 2024
The podcast delves into the history and significance of Pygmalion, the originator of concepts like icons and programming by demonstration. It explores the original paper by David Canfield Smith, the debate between reading sequentially or jumping to conclusions, and critiques gender dynamics in visual programming. The hosts also discuss the role of language in thought, explore the existence of triangles, and examine visual representations in programming.
03:09:39
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Quick takeaways
- Pygmalion pioneered the concepts of icons and Programming by Demonstration.
- The paper delves into the contrast between linguistic and symbolic thought processes.
- Frege's sense-reference distinction is explored in relation to language.
- Pygmalion offers a unique participatory computation environment focusing on icons.
- Users in Pygmalion engage in visual design and creative expression through icons.
- Pygmalion challenges traditional programming paradigms by blending creativity with computational logic.
Deep dives
Introduction to Aspects of Creative Thinking
The paper sets a foundation by exploring the contrast between linguistic thought and symbolic thought, challenging the idea that all thoughts are linguistic. It introduces the notion of words as signs that stand for content without representing its structure, leading to a discussion on how the mind manipulates symbols and structures.
Language and Representations
The text delves into the perceptual dimensions of language, highlighting that language has meaning when words and phrases are understood to refer to something. It introduces the concept of representations having structures that the mind manipulates, emphasizing the interplay between external references in the world and internal understanding.
Sense and Reference in Thought
Frege's sense and reference distinction is brought into the discussion, addressing how words in language serve as signs for content but not necessarily for the structure of that content. The mind requires structured elements to manipulate representations effectively, implying a deeper level of analysis beyond superficial meanings.
Exploring Representational Complexities
The paragraph emphasizes the need for representations to have internal structure for effective manipulation by the mind. It highlights how representations, whether linguistic or visual, are composed of smaller parts and their relationships, ultimately impacting the accuracy of the representation towards the original concept.
Pygmalion: A Creative Programming Environment
Pygmalion is not a graphical programming language in the traditional sense, focusing on participatory computation execution rather than visual representation. The system allows users to manipulate icons and walk through computations with concrete values, emphasizing direct engagement. It leverages concrete values like factorial calculations to create a visual and dynamic representation of the program in action. The design philosophy transcends the limitations of textual representation, offering an environment for direct computation interaction.
Representation in Pygmalion
Pygmalion functions as an iconography tool, enabling users to design and edit icons in a visual space reminiscent of graphics design platforms like Photoshop. Programming in Pygmalion revolves around the design and manipulation of icons, transforming the programmer into an iconographer. This approach shifts the focus towards visualizing and crafting elements on a 2D canvas, allowing users to engage in visual design and diagram creation, extending beyond traditional programming paradigms.
User-Centric Computation in Pygmalion
Programming in Pygmalion involves designing and editing icons, presenting a user-centric approach centered on visual interaction and creative expression. The future vision of programming highlighted in Pygmalion emphasizes the fusion of programming with design, suggesting that programmers should possess design skills akin to architects and artists. By prioritizing visual and interactive elements, Pygmalion reimagines programming as a creative process that integrates computational logic with artistic sensibilities.
The Innovative Approach of Pygmalion
Pygmalion introduces a dynamic and participatory programming environment that diverges from traditional graphical programming languages. By focusing on icon design and interactive manipulation, Pygmalion offers a novel approach to coding that emphasizes creativity and visual expression. The system challenges conventional programming paradigms by prioritizing user engagement in designing computational elements, enabling a seamless blend of programming and design principles.
The Concept of Icons in Pygmalion
Icons in Pygmalion are not just simple graphical representations but can encompass any shape or object on the canvas, serving various functionalities. They range from basic shapes like rectangles to more complex symbols like arrowheads or circuit diagrams, allowing for diverse visual elements to be utilized. Unlike traditional notions of icons, these in Pygmalion are versatile and can represent a wide range of elements on the canvas.
Programming by Demonstration in Creating Icons
Pygmalion embraces the concept of programming by demonstration, enabling users to create icons and programs through interactive actions on the canvas. Users can draw custom icons or manipulate existing ones to signify functional aspects within the program. This approach allows for a more intuitive and visual form of programming, facilitating the real-time creation and modification of program logic and structure.
Challenges and Potentials of Visual Programming Systems
Pygmalion presents a unique blend of visual representation and direct execution of program logic, highlighting the challenges and potentials of visual programming systems. The ability to interact with program elements visually and instantly observe their impact on the execution process offers a novel approach to coding. While Pygmalion demonstrates an innovative methodology, further exploration is needed to address aspects like version control, editing flexibility, and enhanced user interface features for optimal programming experiences.
4.
Exploring the Significance of a 1975 Computing Paper Introducing the Term 'Icon'
3min
6.
Critiquing Gender Dynamics in Visual Programming through the Lens of Pygmalion Myth
22min
11.
Articulate Representations and Pygmalion: Redefining Programming Communication
14min
If you're anything like Ivan (oof, sorry), you've heard of Pygmalion but never caught more than the gist. Some sort of project from the early 70s, similar to Sketchpad or Smalltalk or something, yet another promising prototype from the early history of our field that failed to take the world by storm. Our stock-in-trade on this show.
But you've probably heard of Programming by Demonstration. And you've certainly heard of icons — you know, those little pictures that have become indelibly part of computing as we know it. Pygmalion is the originator of these concepts… and more!
The best introduction to Pygmalion is Mariano Guerra's No-code History: Pygmalion, which includes a clearly articulated summary of the big ideas, motivation, and design, with a video demonstration of the programming interface, key terminology, and links.
The most introduction to Pygmalion — or Pig Million, The Millionth Pig, as it'll surely come to be known — is the subject of today's episode: the original paper by David Canfield Smith.
Links
$ We don't run ads on this show anymore. Sometimes Ivan makes a fake ad for a nonsense product like CarrotGrid or Hest, but those don't pay for the dirt & vapor we grow them in. But what if they could?
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Gonna just get this one out of the way: Quotation — and I quote, "A crucial semantic distinction between direct and indirect speech is that direct speech purports to report the exact words that were said or written EXACTLY AS THEY WERE SAID OR WRITTEN, LU, whereas indirect speech is a representation of speech in one's own words WHICH IS ALSO TOTALLY FINE, BUT JUST BE COOL ABOUT IT HEY?"
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Shout out to Brian Hempel who sent us (among other treats) this concise summary of Pig Million from the seminal book Watch What I Do: Programming by Demonstration.
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Recent FoC Patreon bonus episodes were about the game Baba is You and, on our first ever video episode, the design of a visual representation for machine code.
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Lenna, a sexist test image that was and to some extent still is widely used in computer graphics.
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Lu: Biscuit
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Jimmy: Biscuit
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Ivan: Limp Bizkit
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Aaron Sloman's INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The Role of Intuition and Non-Logical Reasoning in Intelligence
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Ivan: Platonism
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Jimmy: Neoplatonism
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Lu: Neuplatonism
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I would never Derrida
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Lu: Conlang
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Ivan: Conlon Nancarrow, beloved (by Ivan, at least) composer of music for the Player Piano. Here's a baby-faced Adam Neely with the scoop if you're new to Nancarrow. Welcome.
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Jimmy: Conway Twitty
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For the video demonstrating the programming model, check Mariano's post
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Lu's project CellPond, and their SPLASH talk
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Marcel Goethals makes a lot of cool weird stuff and is a choice follow.
Why does it say "Put all the metal back in the ground" at the bottom of the show notes?
Music featured in this episode:
- Various old stuff by Ivan. The music for StageCast Creator is called Between Two Tigers.
- Conlon Nancarrow's Study No. 47
- Wagner, the new Witness haunting every episode.
! Send us email, share your ideas in the Slack, and catch us at these normal places:
See you in the future!
https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/072
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/futureofcoding
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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