Advantages of Skov - nicolas-p/skov GitHub Wiki

Skov	The average text-based language
the number of inputs and outputs of every function is visible all the time	you have to know how many arguments a fonction takes or look it up in the documentation
the name of an input or output is displayed when the cursor is over it	you have to know what arguments a fonction takes (and in which order) or look it up in the documentation
it is perfectly natural for functions to have several outputs	functions only return one value, which can be a tuple that you have to unpack into separate variables
you rarely need variables	you need variables all the time
using a value in several places is as natural as drawing two wires	to use a value in several places, you have to create an intermediate variable and find a good name for it
manipulating sequences is done with higher-order functions (map, filter, reduce)	manipulating sequences is mostly done with loops (for, while), using variables to iterate, and basically reinventing sequence processing every time
the structure of the program is obvious	the structure of the program is hidden under syntax
syntax errors are impossible	syntax errors are very common
giving too many arguments to a function is impossible	giving too many arguments to a function is a relatively common mistake

Skov is based on Factor, which is a fantastic system, but has certain drawbacks:

Skov	Factor
stack shufflers are completely unneccessary	stack shufflers are a necessary evil
most dataflow combinators are unnecessary	dataflow combinators are used all the time
the structure of the code is displayed explicitly	the structure of the code is completely lost; it has to be reconstructed by simulating the stack in your head
friendly to beginners/newcomers	newcomers run away screaming (I guess) (and the velociraptor mascot is probably not the main reason)

Skov	Lisp
really no syntax	no syntax, except for a lot of parentheses
the structure of the code is displayed explicitly	the structure of the code is still hidden under nested parentheses
data flow is easy to follow, from top to bottom	data flow is not so obvious, it is from inside to outside, and often from right to left

Skov	The average visual language
the graph is rendered automatically	the user must place nodes manually, spending more time doing interior decoration than programming
functional	a lot of visual systems are imperative block-based languages with few advantages compared to text languages
general-purpose	a lot of visual systems are domain-specific (3D-rendering, simulation)

• small, self-contained system
• no installation process required
• batteries included: there are vocabularies for most common tasks
• a child can use it