-> They have.  There is a shareware program available called "GAP" for
-> "Graphically Assisted Programming", which is based on flowcharts.  It
-> is rather simple, though, as it has only a few commands like DO:LOOP,
-> FOR:NEXT, PRINT, INPUT and it has only two data types, string and
-> integer (might also be floating point).  Runs under Windows.
Hmmm.... My thing was better than that! It could handle *any* BASIC
command - essentially because it was running "inside" BASIC - except for
some of the flow-control ones such as GOTO. It could do conditional
branches, i.e. IFs, and loops, but only the WHILE type. After all, any
loop can be written as a WHILE, if you want! Loops and branches could be
nested to some extent - up to a total of four deep, I seem to remember.
Any variable-type that could be handled by the BASIC under which it ran
- i.e. integers, real numbers and strings - could be handled.
Real old-timers may remember a magazine called "Compute!", which was
very popular in the 1980s, but which has gone out of business since. I
wrote an article about this flowchart interpreter, which Compute!
published in about 1982 or '83. The editors made the comment that it was
one of the strangest things they had ever seen! I don't know if any
back-numbers are still available from that period.
It sounds like GAP is a step backward. Still, at least it is keeping the
concept alive.
                               dow
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