The Creative Word
Move aside IDE’s (Integrated Developer Environment) – it’s time for the new kid on the block, the Integrated Developer Experience!
Ok, so the acronym is already taken (Internet Data Exchange, Indonesia Stock Exchange, and probably others) but I’m co-opting it for how to talk about FlowSharpCode. I’m actually surprised “Integrated Developer Experience” isn’t used somewhere already. Maybe my google-fu is not up to snuff right now.
I’ve added some select DRAKON shapes for creating flowcharts. The Python code in the lower right editor is generated from the flowchart, and the output from the run is shown on the left.
PyLint is also now integrated into FlowSharpCode’s PythonCompilerService. This really improves the development process as many syntactical errors are detected before even running the code.
Also, the code generator creates an execution tree which independent of the language syntax, which means that support for other languages is easily added. Now granted, the code itself in each of the DRAKON shapes is Python code, but I have some ideas of how to make that code agnostic as well.
I was recently asked (paraphrasing) what parts of the work of software engineering do I find “juicy” so I came up with this diagram. Any software engineering task involves both developers (if only me), customers (might be a client), and the processes of design and implementation.
The “external” blue lines are where the customer potentially interacts with the developers, the output of the design, and the implementation phase (you can probably imagine how Agile fits in this.) The “internal” red lines are where the developers interact with the each other and the design and implementation phases.
From a certain perspective, the left side represents the “process” and the right side represents the “results.” Process and results should be balanced – developers may discover they require training in new skills, teams adjust based on where the team is in the process, etc. The process creates results which the developer and customer team review.
The process – results flow iterates with each result. The earlier results are produced, the better for everyone because this is where “education” occurs, for example, the developers learn more about the customer’s requirements, the customer may refine their requirements (or change them!) Both the developers and the customers learn things during iterations which in turn create adjustments in the process.
The list of items within the boxes is basically just all the stuff that I find “juicy” – the more of those items that get checked off for a project, the more excited I typically find myself regarding working on the project.
The built in “left-right” and “up-down” connectors now have a grip in the middle connecting line that can be moved to create “U”, “C” and their mirror, connections. A much needed enhancement!
Marc Clifton 