Object-Oriented Visual Programming Language. Phase 1.

This paper presents a new programming language named SPARCL that has four major elements: it is a visual language, it is a logic programming language, it relies on sets to organize data, and it supports partitioning constraints on the contents of sets. It is a visual programming language in that the representation of the language depends extensively on non-textual graphics and the programming process relies on graphical manipulation of this representation. It is a logic programming language in that the underlying semantics of the language is the resolution of clauses of a Horn-like subset of first order predicate logic. It uses sets as the only method of combining terms to build complex terms. Finally, one may constrain a set's structure by specifying a partitioning into pairwise disjoint subsets.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Visual programming language research has evolved greatly since its early days. At first, attempts at visual programming mostly took the form of flowchart-like diagrams. But in recent years, a wide number of innovative approaches have been incorporated into visual languages, including object-oriented programming, form-based programming, programming by demonstration, and dataflow programming. Unfortunately, while many of these systems represent important ideas, only a few have been successful as complete visual programming languages. This tutorial explains why this is true, and describes ways in which the problem can be addressed. This tutorial explores the issues behind the successes and failures of earlier approaches from a design perspective. It identifies characteristics of successful visual programming languages, and explains how to design an object-oriented language that maintains those characteristics. It shows solutions to a number of problems by looking at existing visual programming languages, including Prograph.

Managing the graphical complexity of real-life programs expressed in visual programming languages is a great challenge in each visual programming environment. Besides general methods like displaying/layouting graphs and icons on different levels of abstraction or organizing multiple window environments, built-in language mechanisms which permit the structured and modular design of visual programs are essential to overcome this problem. We address these problems by discussing a concept for visual modules in a diagrammatic parallel language as well as a method to describe massive parallel programs consisting of hundreds of processes by means of a visual replication mechanism. >

CombiLog is a logic programming language that uses a small set of basic operators to build larger structures. Although the programs are built strictly through composition, the resulting code is often difficult to read and understand. Empirical studies on program creation both with visual programming language and traditional programming indicate that visual approaches may outperform traditional approaches to programming. Thus, CombiLog could gain largely from a visual interface to support the development process. With a visual interface the resulting system can be regarded as a declarative visual logic programming language, ViColl.

Digital nations have become dependent on computer applications. One of the most important part of literacy in today’s digital and connected word are the basics of computer applications development and usage, but also algorithmic thinking. Programmers, developers, analysts are very wanted resource in business, administration and educational organizations. Job portals contain a lot of well-paid job offers for developers, data scientists, knowledge engineers or robotic process automation developers. Still more and more specialists in these areas are needed not only by IT market but also other sectors of the economy. Therefore, schools and universities introduce many courses concerning process modeling, developing, programming and customizing applications used in management, finance, logistics or engineering. Programming seems to be quite difficult to learn, therefore several educational programming environments and the new easier languages like visual programming languages were developed, so that more people, not necessarily specialists, could create new IT tools and speed up development of the information society.The aim of the article is to present the role of visual programming languages like Scratch in encouraging university students to create algorithms and start programming. The paper presents the characteristic of Scratch visual programming language, the framework of VBA programming course with elements of Scratch. It contains also students’ opinions about learning the basics of programming with visual programming language. In the main part of the article the author presents the results of the survey that was at conducted at the beginning of 2019 on a group of Polish Master’s students (n=119) The author’s observation and students’ opinions allow to conclude that Scratch is very easy to access and to use. It makes introduction to programming more enjoyable, helps to concentrate on the problem, solution structure, and the flow of the process. Scratch platform is not an ideal tool, however it allows for faster introduction of new elements of programming languages such as variables, loops, code blocks, objects. Finally, visual programming languages thanks to its easiness and quickly visible final effect (working application) encourages students to self-development in the field of computer programming. Performed research indicates also that business students notice the benefits of knowing basics of programing, they would like to attend basic programing classes. Students acquire knowledge and skills mainly performing instructions received from the teacher (86%) and watching video tutorials. The comparative analysis showed also some differences between various groups of students. Therefore, tools like Scratch can be successfully used to develop IT courses for non-majors. Many advantages make Scratch useful in introductory programming courses prepared for business students that frequently had no prior experience in the area of IT applications development.

The term “visual language” means different things to different people. To some, it means the objects handled by the language are visual. To others, it means the language itself is visual. To the first group of people, “visual language” means “language for processing visual information,” or “visual information processing language.” To the second group of people, “visual language” means “language for programming with visual expressions,” or “visual programming language.”

Representation Design Benchmarks: A Design-Time Aid for VPL Navigable Static Representations

VIPR and the Visual Programming Challenge

Parsing visual languages with picture layout grammars

The aim of this paper is the implementation of a methodological workflow for the diagnosis of masonry settlings, within the HBIM approach, developing a rule-based logical inference tool in Visual Programming Language. The rule-based inferencing diagnosis is a guided process, which increases the confidence factor about settlings and actual causes, on the basis of surveyors’ technical insights and evidences. The final step is the suggestion of appropriate interventions. The results show that inference logic is directly applicable to the diagnosis problem; their efficacy depends on i) the structured parametric and data modelling of decay patterns in the HBIM model and ii) the knowledge base training. The application has been validated on a case study, Masseria Don Cataldo (Bari, South Italy).

The Programming Languages (PL) Track provides researchers and practitioners with a forum to present their ideas and experience in designing new programming concepts and implementing programming languages. It includes the topics of Compiling Techniques, Domain-Specific Languages, Formal Semantics and Syntax, Garbage Collection, Language Design and Implementation, Languages for Modeling, Model-Driven Development and Model Transformation, New Programming Language Ideas and Concepts, New Programming Paradigms, Practical Experiences with Programming Languages, Program Analysis and Verification, Program Generation and Transformation, Programming Languages from All Paradigms (Agent-Oriented, Aspect-Oriented, Functional, Logic, Object-Oriented, etc.), and Visual Programming Languages.

INTRODUCTION Although visual programming is being broadly implemented in other disciplines, it has only relatively recently become an important supplement to three-dimensional modeling programs in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Currently, Grasshopper in conjunction with Rhino is a leading example of a visual programming environment that is strongly supported by a user community that is developing additional functionality, but Grasshopper does not yet work directly with building information modeling (BIM) software. Dynamo is relatively new, but shows considerable promise in becoming a constructive tool to complement BIM, 3D modeling, and analysis programs because it includes parametric geometries and works with Revit, a leading BIM software program. Three case studies are described: extensibility of Dynamo through the use of a building energy simulation package, controlling a virtual model's response through light level sensors, and interactively updating shading components for a building facade based on solar angles. They demonstrate that one can work directly within building information models (BIM) using a visual programming language through updating component parameters. These case studies demonstrate the feasibility of a workflow for sustainable design simulations that is different than that more commonly used -- having a separation between design and analysis models and using a neutral file format exchange such as IFC or gbXML to transfer data. As visual programming languages are still a bit uncommon in the building industry, a short background is provided to place them within the tool set of other customizable tools that designers have been developing.

Improving students' understanding of basic programming concepts through visual programming language: The role of self-efficacy

It is well documented, and has been the topic of much research, that Computer Science courses tend to have higher than average drop out rates at third level. This is a problem that needs to be addressed with urgency but also caution. The required number of Computer Science graduates is growing every year but the number of graduates is not meeting this demand and one way that this problem can be alleviated is to encourage students at an early age towards studying Computer Science courses. This paper presents a systematic literature review on the role of visual and textual programming languages when learning to program, particularly as a first programming language. The approach is systematic, in that a structured search of electronic resources has been conducted, and the results are presented and quantitatively analysed. This study will give insight into whether or not the current approaches to teaching young learners programming are viable, and examines what we can do to increase the interest and retention of these students as they progress through their education.

Rapid prototyping of domain-specific software requires a systematic software development methodology and user-friendly tools [20]. As visual tools are becoming increasingly popular for non-computing professionals and end-users, visual programming languages (VPLs) would potentially challenge traditional specification languages for rapid software prototyping due to their intuitiveness and ease-of-use. Different from CASE toolsets, VPLs are executable specification languages that are defined by graph grammars and syntax-directed rewriting rules, apart from being at a high level. This means that the prototyped domain software can also be rigorously verified to ensure that it is safe and risk-free. We call VPLs designed for specific application domains as Domain-Specific Visual Languages (DSVLs).