This



and this


are the future of source code. Well, I suppose technically they're the present of source code, as HTML could be considered code and these screenshots are from a shipping application, not a tech demo.

However I think more benefit could be derived from this approach if it were applied to turing-complete programming languages like Java, Ruby, and possibly domain-specific languages (DSLs). These screenshots are from an OS X application called Xyle Scope, by a software house called Cultured Code. Highly recommended. Good stuff.

Anyway, I think the thing that makes this presentation so slick is that it shows how you can judiciously use typography and graphic design to substitute for what I consider the dumber elements of programming language syntax (like parentheses, dots, brackets, etc.).

I think I might take a stab at presenting Java source code using this sort of scheme, just to see if it would be more readable (which, in the end, is really what this exercise is all about).

If anyone has any ideas about this, please drop me a line: mark (at symbol) figuresix (dot) com.
posted on 10/22/2007 10:26:00 PM