So today I found "Pure Data", a real-time dataflow programming environment related to Max/MSP and indeed written by the same dude, apparently. This screenshot gives an idea of its janky tcl/tk glory:
Truly, these people are safe from those scruffy HCI hippies with their "user interface guidelines" fiddlefaddle and their "colors that aren't horrifically saturated" claptrap and such.
I emphasize that this is a screenshot provided by the supporters of this program, not its detractors. Let that sink in.
Anyway it gives me delightful flashbacks to Rocky's Boots the way the interactive help system has paragraphs of text right up next to the weird box-and-line contraptions that you can interact with.