I posted this on the blog but I'll copy it here as well. Please forgive the shameless plug.
I think the OP is right in that wanting to automate repetitive tasks is inherent to humans. And the problems discussed in this post are exactly the kind my startup http://loggur.com aims to address. The goal is to let non-programmers automate and also to let programmers automate certain tasks (mainly data manipulation, analysis, triggers, and reports/notifications) in a fraction of the time it would take to otherwise hand-code it.
I should also mention that I am fully aware that what Loggur attempts to do is far from new, but I have yet to see an implementation that isn't a pain to work with. And it's designed with the current (and predicted future) state of things in mind and to be flexible enough to adapt to whatever the needs of the future may be.
I think the OP is right in that wanting to automate repetitive tasks is inherent to humans. And the problems discussed in this post are exactly the kind my startup http://loggur.com aims to address. The goal is to let non-programmers automate and also to let programmers automate certain tasks (mainly data manipulation, analysis, triggers, and reports/notifications) in a fraction of the time it would take to otherwise hand-code it.
I should also mention that I am fully aware that what Loggur attempts to do is far from new, but I have yet to see an implementation that isn't a pain to work with. And it's designed with the current (and predicted future) state of things in mind and to be flexible enough to adapt to whatever the needs of the future may be.