Yes I appreciate one can use nesting to get around fact you can't get as
much on a screen as with text.

About 20 years ago I wrote a UML case tool that generated entire C++
applications from class diagrams and state charts. It enabled a C
programmer to write C++ without knowing the class syntax as all the code
fragments entered in the GUI were pretty much C but got woven into C++
classes and object could be instantiated with web forms generated from the
class.  All the diagrams were nested so you could drill down and pop up
again.

Now that I am retired I prefer a simpler life and text seems simpler and
quicker to me for OpenSCAD.

On Fri, 25 Oct 2019 at 20:50, Torsten Paul Torsten.Paul@gmx.de wrote:

nophead wrote

I fully appreciate that and it is no part of my agenda to get you (or anyone
else who likes using text) to change.

But I would be interested to know if you think a simple GUI would be useful
for newbies?

...R

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Very hard for me to judge because I am such a long way from a newbie. I
think I started using OpenSCAD about 9 years ago and probably found it the
easiest language I have learnt, but I spent about 30 years as a
professional programmer and before that and was  making my own computers
and writing my own assemblers and compilers when I was a schoolkid and then
did a degree in computer engineering.

I don't think anybody who is a programmer would struggle to learn it and
they are the people it is aimed at. I can see a GUI could help somebody who
is not a programmer get started but are there many of those that would want
to use OpenSCAD? Why wouldn't they use Fusion360 or FreeCAD if they liked a
GUI based CAD?

I also felt the same about VHDL verses schematic entry for FPGA design. Yes
the schematic can be easier for a hardware designer but it is much quicker
to type HDL and not worry about laying out a schematic.

On Fri, 25 Oct 2019 at 22:13, Robin2 robin@nbleopard.com wrote:

On 25.10.19 23:52, nop head wrote:

But why would we need to put a big restriction on
that and tell everyone who does not want to be a
programmer to find something else?

Modern IDEs for programming languages have lots
of GUI support and that's great. OpenSCAD does
not have much of a GUI, but all those Dialogs are
created with a GUI designer. And in general I
would hate programming C++ via notepad.

I think OpenSCAD will never turn into a point and
click program like FreeCAD. But I don't see why
there should not be additional visualization and
editing possibilities.

Looking at the number of external tools doing
exactly that, I suppose it's not just one or two.

ciao,
Torsten.

On 10/25/2019 2:23 PM, Robin2 wrote:

The existence of BlocksCAD makes it clear that you're not the only one.

I'm entirely serious, though, when I ask:  what do you want that
BlocksCAD doesn't do?

(And sometimes the answer is that you want to reinvent the wheel, just
because you like the exercise.  That's OK, but it's best done as a
conscious decision.)

nophead wrote

That was precisely my question about the original proposal—OpenSCAD is
designed for programmers who can't (or don't want to) draw.  If someone
wants to draw, there are much better systems for their needs.  I have never
found graphical interfaces for programming languages very good for real
programs.  (OK, Scratch was fun for teaching 5th graders to program little
programs, but I wouldn't want to use it for anything big.)

I don't think that any of the FPGA developers use schematic entry any
more—the FPGAs have gotten too big.  Verilog seems to be the dominant tool,
with a lot of development work into higher-level RTL languages with Verilog
as the output.

gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com
www.thingiverse.com/gasstationwithoutpumps/things

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JordanBrown wrote

You are quite correct when you guess that my project started as an "I thnk I
can do that" exercise.

Personally I don't like the Blockscad system (it is the same as MIT
AppInventor) and I'm not sure why. Maybe it is that it is too fussy - the
snazzy graphics are getting in the way.

...R

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OpenSCAD mailing list-2 wrote

What operating system and browser are you using?

Did you see any message in the Terminal window?

...R

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