Abstract not found

Visual programming approaches are limited in their usefulness if they do not include a profile of their users that defines exactly who is attempting to solve what kind of problems using which tools and why. Without such a definition, visual programming approaches can end up as solutions in search of problems. Reconceptualizing --- programming environments as layered behavior processors in the context of creating SimCity^TM-like interactive simulations --- makes end-user programming more feasible. The layered approach serves the programming needs for a range of users, including casual computer end-users and professional programmers. The extension of the Agentsheets system with the Ristretto^TM agent to Java bytecode compiler is used to illustrate how a behavior processor enables end-users to create their own Java applets that can be embedded into web pages.

Diagram construction can be used to visually analyse and design a complex software system using natural, graphical representations describing high-level structure and semantics. Textual programming can specify detailed documentation and functionality not well expressed at a visual level. Integrating multiple textual and graphical views of software development allows programmers to utilise both representations as appropriate. Consistency management between these views must be automatically maintained by the development environment. MViews, a model for such software development environments, has been developed. MViews supports integrated textual and graphical views of software development with consistency management. MViews provides flexible program and view representation using a novel object dependency graph approach. Multiple views of a program may contain common information and are stored as graphs with textual or graphical renderings and editing. Change propagation between program components and views is supported using a novel update record mechanism. Different editing tools are integrated

Parallel and distributed programming is intrinsically more difficult than sequential programming, yet few effective tools or methodologies have been developed to help programmers understand the behavior of their parallel programs. Browsing source code and tracing program output are tedious and often ineffective approaches for parallel program understanding. Program visualization, which relates a program's behavior to the programmer's model of the system's components and interactions, has been shown to be a novel and highly effective approach to program and algorithm comprehension. Extending and adapting program visualization to parallel programming can aid comprehension of the complex concurrent events and transitions that occur in parallel programs. We are defining a model for the capture and display of parallel program events and transitions, based upon the path-transition paradigm for animation, and partial ordering of events. Using this model, we are developing a prototype for vis...

The definition and implementation of user views is likely to be a major factor in the success of the ISO-STEP standard for computer-based representation of building components and their inter-connection. The development of a method for describing user views to a particular model is also likely to increase the usage of existing design tools. Currently, the arcane languages and the detailed knowledge required of the physics and terminology of the specific domains of many of these tools limit their use by designers. This paper addresses these issues by describing a system that can present information from a base computer model of a building to a given user. The language and level of detail of the system are directed at the needs and understanding of the user. This system allows multiple concurrent views to the base model, each view tailored to a particular discipline (eg, architect, structural engineer, thermal engineer, etc) and further tailored to meet the specific needs of the particular user in terms of understanding of the various disciplines and the level of information required. Used with a system that integrates various design tools through a computer based building model, this system will offer users information from a range of design tools at a level that they can comprehend. Key Words multi discipline views; product modelling; user interaction

The general term program visualization refers to graphical views or illustrations of the entities and characteristics of computer programs. This term along with many others including data structure display, program animation, algorithm animation, etc., have been used inconsistently in the literature, which has led to confusion in describing systems providing these capabilities. In this paper we present a scaled characterization of program visualization terms along aspect, abstractness, animation, and automation dimensions. Rather than placing existing systems into hard-and-fast categories, we focus on unique and differentiating aspects across all systems. Keywords: program visualization, algorithm animation, software understanding 1 Introduction A visualization tool provides graphical views of the entities and characteristics of a computer system or program. The purpose of such a visualization tool is stated nicely by Myers, et. al.: "Human information processing is clearly optimized...

This paper attempts to classify and compare these graph formalisms and notations which provide different information at different stages of parallel program development

MViews attempts to abstract out the common features of multi-view editing environments that support integrated textual and graphical programming with consistency management. It provides a conceptual model and reusable object-oriented framework for constructing interactive programming environments that provide multiple textual and graphical views. It supports multiple views of a base document, maintaining consistency between each of the views using an update record mechanism. MViews has been used to construct a visual programming environment for an object-oriented language featuring both graphical and textual views of the program. Other applications of MViews under development include entity-relationship and dataflow diagrammers, a visual debugger and a dialog box painter. 1. Introduction Diagrams are useful in all phases of the software lifecycle to help explain and understand concepts that are difficult to describe in text (Davis, 1988). In objectoriented programming, for example, di...

Software engineering research and programming language design have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, with traceable impacts since the 1970s, when these areas were first distinguished from one another. This report documents this relationship by focusing on several major features of current programming languages: data and procedural abstraction, types, concurrency, exceptions, and visual programming mechanisms. The influences are determined by tracing references in publications in both fields, obtaining oral histories from language designers delineating influences on them, and tracking cotemporal research trends and ideas as demonstrated by workshop topics, special issue publications, and invited talks in the two fields. In some cases there is conclusive This article has been developed under the auspices of the Impact Project. The aim of the project is to provide a scholarly study of the impact that software engineering research—both academic and industrial—has had upon practice. The principal output of the project is a series of individual papers covering the impact upon practice of research in several selected major areas of software

Ispel is a visual programming environment for object-oriented languages providing multiple views of programs, utilising both graphics and text. These views can be used not only for program browsing, but can also be manipulated to visually program with an object-oriented language. 1.