I love how the screen shot of labview is literally the shot NI uses from an article giving an example of what not to do [1]. Labview has its quirks but its not as horrible as that screen makes people believe
I'm sure practical visual programming will be a reality some day, but for now writing code is the best we have.
"I'm sure practical visual programming will be a reality some day..."
I don't follow how you get from the first sentence to this conclusion. Seems to me spending a lot of time "arranging cables and boxes" is pretty inherent to the whole visual programming idea.