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Biovia (part of Dassault) have a commercial product called Pipeline Pilot - is that the kind of thing? BIOVIA Pipeline Pilot | Scientific Workflow Authoring Application for Data Analysis[^]
There is an open-source thing called knime KNIME[^] which has a similar function.
A long time ago, Silicon Graphics had a graphical drag-and-drop programming tool that allowed users to connect componentized code together . . . Explorer I think (that hints at how long ago it was - I don't recall it being a name-clash).
Treading on the toes of giants . . .
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Interesting links! I'll dig into those some more, wish they had some screenshots (wasn't obvious if they do.)
Marc
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Ever used SSIS?
(It's dreadful.)
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Haven't seen Macromedia / Adobe Authorware mentioned yet. It was (is?) a somewhat useful (for some purposes) version of what you're proposing.
The screen looked like this.
It was an interpreted language without strong types, and kinda verbose and scripty and encouraging of poor practices, but the flowcharting was actually quite well designed. These observations come from 20 years ago, mind.
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1. Take scratch
2. Remove most of the kid-friendly shiny colors
3. Remove the cat mascot
4. Your idea fulfilled
We are talking a gaphical programming environment here, are we?
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Isn't this a bit like Unreal 4's Blueprint?
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Flowcode started out like this: a graphical programming environment for embedded software that relies mainly on flow diagrams and assembles them into C, PIC assembly code and hex for direct porting to a PIC microcontroller. It's been extended since to cover the hardware components of the design.
The problem I find with Flowcode is that as soon as the design gets at all complicated the flow diagram becomes unwieldy.
Peter
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Sometime in the early 90's (before Windows was widely used) I once had a dream wherein I was installing a program. The thing is the program came in a bottle and all I had to do was pour it into a tank that the computer had. Liquid programs. I have no idea how it was supposed to work but I kinda get the idea that "shake well before using" probably wouldn't be too good for the program. Not that pouring it from one container to another would help to keep the bits in any kind of order either. I gotta figure the uninstall would be really weird.
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As someone else mentioned, there is a language called scratch, developed at MIT, intended to teach kids programming.
Also, there's a fantastic thing for kids called First Lego League. Kids program a robot, using a visual language called Mindstorms. Along the way, the kids are encouraged to learn about teamwork and to develop a set of core values, one of which is "Have Fun".
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Yeah, I just go ahead and implement it. The difficult gets done immediately, the impossible just takes a tad longer. 
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Are you describing something similar to LabView? A kind of flow chart programming system that has been around a long time.
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LabView does something very similar to this by "wiring up" code modules.
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It was done 50 years ago - a programming language called AMBIT/G.
- Dennis
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"because it's probably never been done before"
As people here have noted "it HAS been done before".
Labview (1986)
Borland Object Vision (1990)
Scratch (2002)
And many others ...
The real question is "Why do these non-verbal programming tools never take off?".
And: "Why can't I program in Emojis?"
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This is the most bizarre thing I've ever come across clicky[^]
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I may be missing something, but what is the difference to UML tools like RationalRose, or EnterpriseArchitect, that can both generate code from diagrams and diagrams from code?
Also, Eclipse has a built-in UML editor/generator that works great for Java (not so great for C++)
List of Unified Modeling Language tools - Wikipedia[^]
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)
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Google made a similar tool for developing Java apps on android a few years ago called "App Inventor". This looks quite a bit like that did.
It was indeed abandoned by Google.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
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A company called Steeplechase Software (the name has been changed since they were bought out by another company) actually compiled code from a flow diagram. The diagram was used to define the control flow for Programmable Logic Controllers.
Someone who understood Ladder Logic but had no idea about programming could actually get the code generated by his flow diagram. The idea was to replace several Programmable Logic Controllers with a PC.
The company could convince major automobile manufacturers to buy the product.
So there goes the average programmer's belief that only they could write industrial-strength code.
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As others have pointed out - and as you surmised - graphical/diagramatical/flow programming isn't anything new, and has been tried in many variations in the past - and present. But don't let that stop you; maybe you'll come up with a new concept or way to get around certain issues all of those have suffered from.
Way back at the beginning of Java - before it was popular and widely used - there was a graphical language for it, called (IIRC) "Java Beans" - which had nothing to do with what are today known as "Java Beans"! Basically, various nodes each contained executable code, and parameters and i/o were passed via links between nodes.
Another long-lived and widely used system of a similar nature is LabView. Someone else mentioned Simulink.
There's also Max - aimed at musicians: Max (software) - Wikipedia[^]
Octoblu is in IoT platform by Citrix [^] that has it's own drag-and-drop, connect the nodes, add code, etc - designer software. It's actually pretty amazing (before they were acquired by Citrix, they were a startup here in the Phoenix area hacking on this stuff).
So all I can say is have fun with this! And to answer your direct question, yes, there have been similar times for myself - and probably every software developer - where an idea was come up with that was seemingly outlandish or crazy, but needed to be tried. Heck, I would imagine that's how many of the breakthroughs are accomplished. Good luck with your project!
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I help manage my accountant's network for his place of business and sometimes I have to install new accounting software for him. Last weekend I attempted to install an application that required SQL Server 2014 Express on his file server, but ended up with problems during the install. I had to install it on a new server that wasn't apart of the DNS yet, so for a short term fix, I edited his hosts file on his workstation (Windows 10). It will be this weekend before I can fix the DNS, so the hosts file should work fine until then. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, performs an update to his workstation. The update deletes the hosts file and blocks access to the directory where it had resided. The administrator account no longer has access. This being on a Tuesday, I had no time to go and try to fix it, so he's out of luck until Saturday. Why would Microsoft do that? 
I'm thinking at this point to recommend he roll back all of his workstations to Windows 7. Windows 10 has become a plague.
When you are dead, you won't even know that you are dead. It's a pain only felt by others.
Same thing when you are stupid.
modified 19-Nov-21 21:01pm.
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Win7 will remain on my machine until I retire, and then I'll move to Linux. I use my HOSTS file to redirect ad sites to 0.0.0.0.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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