The problems spoke for themselves over the course of the presentation.
Something as simple as a counter was very complicated to look at, filling the screen with jiggling nodes. The presenter then introduces a bug while trying to decrement, and is unable to debug it.
I spent quite a bit of time (about 8 years) looking into and working on VPLs. What I found was that our perceptions and interactions with various abstractions such as programming, mathematics, or even music (sheet music), are shaped by our individual mental models.
I code using programming languages because it was what I was taught in college and it's what I've used for decades. For me, something like SQL looks amazing and is super easy to rad. Whereas others may see SQL as something that is complicated to look at full of jiggling relations.
In the same way, a VPL may initially appear complicated, but this is often a reflection of unfamiliarity rather than inherent complexity.
As with many technologies, given time and development, there's potential for something groundbreaking to emerge.
What may seem complex today could become a new standard tomorrow.
