LIVE-Integrating visual and textual programming paradigms

Abstract

The authors demonstrate that visual programming languages and textual programming languages are not rivals but complement each other. A three-dimensional animation-oriented programming language called LIVE is presented. LIVE is an attempt to integrate the visual and textual programming paradigms. Visual objects are interactively manipulated by both a visual representation (pick-by-name interface) and a textual representation (pick-by-position interface). The system informs a user in a text form how his or her visual operation is interpreted. A selected interpretation unsuitable to the users can be interactively resolved using a pick-by-name interface. LIVE introduces a programming-by-multiple-examples paradigm based on a visual guard concept, which is analogous to the concept of logic programming languages. This paradigm enables one to make a visual program in a way which is simple and easy to understand.<>