Flowcode

Last updated
Flowcode
Developer(s) Matrix TSL
Stable release
10.0 / 25 January 2023;29 days ago (2023-01-25)
Written in C++
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Available inEnglish, French, German, Spanish
Type Computer programming tool
License Proprietary EULA
Website www.flowcode.co.uk

Flowcode is a Microsoft Windows-based development environment commercially produced by Matrix TSL for programming embedded devices based on PIC, AVR (including Arduino), ESP32, Raspberry Pi and RP2040 and ARM technologies using graphical programming styles (such as flowcharts) and imperative programming styles (through C, State Machines and Pseudocode). It is currently in its tenth revision.

Flowcode is dedicated to simplifying complex functionality such as Bluetooth, Mobile Phones Communications, USB communications etc. by using pre-developed dedicated open source component libraries of functions. This is achieved by dragging virtual representations of hardware onto a visual panel, providing access to associated libraries. Flowcode is therefore ideal for speeding up software development times and allowing those with little programming experience to get started and help with projects. This makes it appropriate for the formal teaching of principles of programming microcontrollers. [1]

Flowcode allows the user to develop and view their program using four different visual modes. These are the Flowchart view, the Blocks view (a graphical programming paradigm inspired by Blockly), the C code view and the Pseudocode view. There is also a fifth state machine way of entering code.

Flowcode also has a mode named App Developer which is capable of creating Windows based applications via a runtime executable. This allows the software to also create applications for testing or interacting with the embedded system.

Flowcode also has compatibility with Solidworks. [2]

Notes

  1. Pearson, "Unit 6: Micro-controllers - BTEC National Engineering additional FAQs ", Pearson, 06/06/2018
  2. Dassault Systèmes, "Flowcode | SOLIDWORKS", Solidworks, 31/05/2018


Related Research Articles

The GUI, graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, instead of text-based UIs, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of CLIs, which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard.

An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools and a debugger. Some IDEs, such as NetBeans and Eclipse, contain the necessary compiler, interpreter, or both; others, such as SharpDevelop and Lazarus, do not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operating system</span> Software that manages computer hardware resources

An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embedded system</span> Computer system with a dedicated function

An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use today. In 2009, it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe Authorware</span>

Adobe Authorware was an elearning authoring tool with its own interpreted, flowchart-based, graphical programming language. Authorware was used for creating interactive elearning programs that could integrate a range of multimedia content, particularly electronic educational technology applications. The flowchart model differentiated Authorware from other authoring tools, such as Adobe Flash and Adobe Director, which rely on a visual stage, time-line and script structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delphi (software)</span> General-purpose programming language and a software product

Delphi is a general-purpose programming language and a software product that uses the Delphi dialect of the Object Pascal programming language and provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development of desktop, mobile, web, and console software, currently developed and maintained by Embarcadero Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Text-based user interface</span> Type of interface based on outputting to or controlling a text display

In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an early form of human–computer interaction, before the advent of modern conventional graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Like GUIs, they may use the entire screen area and accept mouse and other inputs. They may also use color and often structure the display using special graphical characters such as ┌ and ╣, referred to in Unicode as the "box drawing" set. The modern context of use is usually a terminal emulator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual programming language</span> Programming language written graphically by a user

In computing, a visual programming language or block coding is a programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. For example, many VPLs are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows", where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LabVIEW</span> System-design platform and development environment

Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simulink</span> Programming environment

Simulink is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers tight integration with the rest of the MATLAB environment and can either drive MATLAB or be scripted from it. Simulink is widely used in automatic control and digital signal processing for multidomain simulation and model-based design.

DataFlex is an object-oriented high-level programming language and a fourth generation visual tool 4GL for developing Windows, web and mobile software applications on one framework-based platform. It was introduced and developed by Data Access Corporation beginning in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphical user interface builder</span> Software development tool

A graphical user interface builder, also known as GUI designer or sometimes RAD IDE, is a software development tool that simplifies the creation of GUIs by allowing the designer to arrange graphical control elements using a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor. Without a GUI builder, a GUI must be built by manually specifying each widget's parameters in source-code, with no visual feedback until the program is run. Such tools usually called the term RAD IDE.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0 in 2006. WPF uses DirectX and attempts to provide a consistent programming model for building applications. It separates the user interface from business logic, and resembles similar XML-oriented object models, such as those implemented in XUL and SVG.

VisSim is a visual block diagram program for simulation of dynamical systems and model-based design of embedded systems, with its own visual language. It is developed by Visual Solutions of Westford, Massachusetts. Visual Solutions was acquired by Altair in August 2014 and its products have been rebranded as Altair Embed as a part of Altair's Model Based Development Suite. With Embed, you can develop virtual prototypes of dynamic systems. Models are built by sliding blocks into the work area and wiring them together with the mouse. Embed automatically converts the control diagrams into C-code ready to be downloaded to the target hardware.

A workflow application is a software application which automates, to at least some degree, a process or processes. The processes are usually business-related but can be any process that requires a series of steps to be automated via software. Some steps of the process may require human intervention, such as an approval or the development of custom text, but functions that can be automated should be handled by the application. Advanced applications allow users to introduce new components into the operation.

Embedded Wizard is a graphical user interface tool developed and distributed by TARA Systems GmbH for creating graphical user interface (GUI) applications mainly for embedded systems. It provides a WYSIWYG front-end for editing graphics, effects and logic of the user interface and generates ANSI C code for particular target hardware. Embedded Wizard is independent of a specific graphics hardware or color format and supports object oriented programming.