Hi There,
Recently I read a quote of @dceejay over at Slack:
I have often thought of and described Node-RED to non-programmers as “digital duct tape” - It was always conceived as a way to help make things work and fix things, IE a practical engineering tool rather than a logically rigid programming language. As such there will always need to be adaptations to fit different mindsets, and compromises to allow for simplifications for more general usage across many different application areas.
that motivated me to write this post about Node-RED being more than just duct tape, especially version 5.
I totally agree with the duct-tape assessment of NR and it will remain that way until folks question their mindsets towards NR. It's imagining a different future and extending that mindset that is the hard part.
Thus, with my article I'm not trying to be sensationalist or controversial, merely pointing to benefits of the NR approach to development (yes I do imagine NR being a "rigid programming language"). I do think that as programmers/developers we should be smelling the writing on the wall that textual-based programming is reaching its limits and that other approaches (AI generated textual code is being one, visual programming another) should be explored.
And no, I don't mean we should go back to punch cards nor green-screens, but realise that programming underlies the forces of evolution and should not be steadfast in accepting keyboard and mouse as the main tools for code programming. Just imagine setting your alarm on your mobile device using a keyboard, yet setting the alarm is a kind of programming of that device.
