Skip to main content

Graphical Support for Programming: A Survey and Taxonomy

  • Conference paper

Abstract

Great interest is beginning to arise in using graphics as an aid in programming. Graphics has been applied to program construction and to program debugging and understanding. The systems in the first category are commonly known as “Visual Programming” systems whereas the ones in the second category are called “Program Visualization” systems. This paper presents a taxonomy of these systems. Systems are categorized according to the techniques followed or based on their focus. Example systems from each category are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Abbreviations

D.2.2. [Software Engineering]:

Tools and Techniques-Flowcharts

D.2.5. [Software Engineering]:

Testing and Debugging — Debugging Aids

D.3.2. [Programming Languages]:

Language Classification

I.3.6. [Computer Graphics]:

Methodlogy and Techniques — Languages

References

  1. Adams, E. and Muchnick, S.S., “Dbxtool: A Window-Based Symbolic Debugger”. Software — Practice and Experience, July 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Albizuri-Romero, M.B., “GRASE: A Graphical Syntax-Direct Editor for Structured Programming”. SIGPLAN Notices, vol 19, no 2, 1984, pp 28–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Baecker, R., “Two Systems which Produce Animated Representations of the Execution of Computer Programs”. SIGCSE Bulletin, vol 7, no 1, 1975, pp 158– 167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Baecker, R., “Sorting out Sorting”. Dynamics Graphics Project, Computer Systems Research Institute, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1981,16mm film, 25 minutes.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Baecker, R. and Marcus, A., “Design Principles for the Enhanced Presentation of Computer Program Source Text”. In Proc. of the ACM CHI 86 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1986, pp 51– 58.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Baecker, R., “An Application Overview of Program Visualization”. Computer Graphics, vol 20, no 4, 1986, p 325.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Biermann, A.W. and Krishnaswamy, R., “Constructing Programs from Example Computations”. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol SE-2, no 3, 1976, pp 141–153.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Blaschek, G. and Sametinger, J., “User-adaptable Prettyprinting”. Software Practice and Experience, vol 19, no 7, 1989, pp 687–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Boecker, H.D., Fisher, G. and Napier, H., “The Enhancement of Understanding through Visual Representations”. In Proc. of the CHI 86 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1986, pp 44–50.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Borning, A., “Defining Constraints Graphically”. In Proc. of the ACM CHI 86 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Brown, M.H. and Sedgewick, R., “A System for Algorithm Animation”. Computer Graphics, vol 18, no 3, 1984, pp 177–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Brown, G.H., Carling, R.T., Herot, C.F., Kramlich, D.A., and Souza P., “Program Visualization: Graphical Support for Software Development”. IEEE Computer, vol 18, no 8, 1985, pp 27–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brown, M.H., “Perspectives on Algorithm Animation”. In Proc. of the ACM CHI 88 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1988, pp 33–38.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Cardelli, L., “Building User Interfaces by Direct Manipulation”. In ACM SIGGRAPH Symp. on User Interface Software, ACM, New York, 1988, pp 152– 166.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Chang, S.K., “Visual Languages: A Tutorial and Survey”. IEEE Software, vol 29, no 1, 1987, pp 29–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Clark, B.E.J, and Robinson, S.K., “A Graphically Interacting Program Monitor”. The Computer Journal, vol 26, no 3, 1983, pp 235–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Cunniff, N., Taylor, R.P., and Black, J.B., “Does Programming Language Affect the Type of Conceptual Bugs in Beginners’ Programs? A Comparison of FPL and PASCAL”. In Proc. of the ACM CHI 86 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1986, pp 175–182.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Curry, G.A., “Programming by Abstract Demonstration”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Tech Rep 78-03-02, University of Washington, 1978.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Davis, A.L. and Lowder, S.A., “A Sample Management Application Program in a Graphical Data Driven Programming Language”. In Digets of Papers Compcon Spring’ 81, 1981, pp 162–167.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Davis, A.L. and Keller, R.M., “Data Flow Program Graphs”. IEEE Computer, vol 15, no 2, 1982, pp 26–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Diaz-Herrera, J.L. and Flude, R.C., “Pascal/HSD: A Graphical Programming System”. In Proc. of IEEE Compsac’ 80, 1980, pp 723–728.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Duisberg, R.A., “Visual Programming of Program Visualizations”. In Proc. of the 1987 Workshop on Visual Languages, 1987, pp. 55–66.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Edel, M., “The Tinkertoy Graphical Programming Environment”. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol SE-14, no 8, 1988, pp 1110–1115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ellis, T.O., Heafner, J.F. and Sibley, W.L., “The Grail Project: An Experiment in Man-Machine Communication”. RAND Report RM-5999-Arpa, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Finzer, W. and Gould, L., “Programming by Rehearsal”. BYTE, vol 9, no 6, 1984, pp 197–210.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Frei, H.P., Weller, D.L. and Williams, R., “A Graphics-Based Programming Support System”, Proc. ACM Siggraph 78, 1978, pp 43–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Giacalone, A., Rinard, M.C. and Doeppner, T.W., “IDEOSY: An Ideographic and Interactive Program Description System”. ACM SIGPLAN Notices, vol 19, no 5, 1984, pp 15–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Glinert, E.P. and Tanimoto, S.L., “Pict: An Interactive Graphical Programming Environment”. IEEE Computer, vol 17, no 11, 1986, pp 7–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Glinert, E.P., “Towards Software Metrices for Visual Programming”. Tech Rep 87–16, Dept of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Haeberli, P.E., “ConMan: A Visual Programming Language for Interactive Graphics”. Computer Graphics, vol 22, no 4, 1988, pp 103–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Haibt, L.M., “A Program to Draw Multi-Level Flow Charts”. Proc. of the Western Joint Computer Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 1959, pp 131– 137.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Halbert, D., “An Example of Programming by Example”. M.Sc. Dissertation, Dept. of EE & CS, University of California, Berkley, 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Hirakawa, M., Iwata, S., Yoshimoto, I., Tanaka, M. and Ichikawa, T., “HI-VISUAL Iconic Programming”. In Proc. of the 1987 Workshop on Visual Languages, 1987, pp 305–314.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Hughes, C.D. and Moshell, J.M., “Visible Pascal: A Graphics-Based Learning Environment”. In Proc. of the Computer Graphics 86 Conf., NCGA, 1986, pp 401–411.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hyrskykari, A. and Raiha, K-J., “Animation of Algorithms without Programming”. In Proc. of the 1987 Workshop on Visual Languages, 1987, pp 40–54.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Jablonowski, D. and Guarana, Jr., V.A., “GMB: A Tool for Manipulating and Animating Graph Data Structures”, Software — Practice and Experience, vol 19, no 3, 1989, pp 283–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Jacob, R.J.K., “A State Transition Diagram Language for Visual Programming”. IEEE Computer, vol 8, no 8, 1985, pp 51–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Keller, R.M. and Yen, W-C.J., “A Graphical Approach to Software Development Using Function Graphs”. In Digets of Papers Compcon Spring 81, 1981, pp 156–161.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Kimura, T.D., Choi, J.W., and Mack, J.M., “A Visual Language for Keyboardless Programming”, Technical Report WUCS-86-6, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Krishnamoorthy, M.S. and Swaminathan, R., “Program Tools for Algorithm Animation”,. Software Practice and Experience, vol 19, no 6, 1989, pp 505–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Lakin, F., “Spatial Parsing for Visual Languages”. In Visual Languages, Chang, S.K., Ichikawa, T. and Ligomenides, P.A. ( eds ), Plenum Publishing Corp., 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Leong, M.K, Sam, S. and Narasimhalu, D., “Towards a Visual Language for an Object-Oriented Multi-Media Database System”. In Proc. of the MP TC 2/WG 2.6 Working Conference on Visual Database Systems, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Levien, R., “Visual Programming”. BYTE, Feb. 1986, pp 135–144.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Lewis, T.G., Handloser III, F., Bose, S. and Yang, S., “Prototypes from Standard User Interface Management Systems”. IEEE Computer, May 1989, pp 51–60.

    Google Scholar 

  45. London, R.L. and Duisberg, R.A., “Animating Programs Using Smalltalk”. IEEE Computer, vol 18, no 8, 1985, pp 61–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Loosemore, S., “A Visual Programming Environment for Hierarchical Data Structures”. In Proc. of the 1987 Workshop on Visual Languages, 1987, pp 242–253.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Myers, B., “INCENSE: A System for Displaying Data Structures”. Computer Graphics, vol 17, no 3, 1983, pp 115–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Myers, B., “Visual Programming, Programming by Example, and Program Visualization: A Taxonomy”. In Proc. of the ACM CHI 86 Conf. on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, 1986, pp 59–66.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  49. Myers, B. and Buxton, W.A.S., “Creating Highly-Interactive and Graphical User Interfaces by Demonstration”. Computer Graphics, vol 20, no 4, 1986, pp 249–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Nassi, I. and Shneiderman, B., “Flowchart Techniques for Structured Programming”. SIGPLAN Notices, vol 8 no 8, 1973, pp 12–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Newman, W.M., “A System for Interactive Graphical Programming”. In Proc. of the Spring Joint Computer Conf., 1968, pp 47–54.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Parnas, D.L., “On the use of Transition Diagrams in the Design of a User Interface for an Interactive Graphics System”. In Proc. of the 24th National ACM Conf., 1969, pp 379–385.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Pietrzykowski, T., Matwin, S., and Muldner, T., “The Programming Language PROGRAPH: Yet Another Application of Graphics”, In Proc. of the Graphics Interface’ 83 Conf., Morgan Kaufmann, CA, 1983, pp 143–145.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Pong, M.C. and Ng, N., “PIGS — A System for programming with Interactive Graphical Support”. Software Practice and Experience, vol 13, Sept 1983, pp 847– 855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Reiss, S.P., “PECAN: Program Development Environment that Supports Multiple Views”. EEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol SE-11, no 3, 1985, pp 276–285.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Robins, G., “The ISI Grapher: A Portable Tool for Displaying Graphs Pictorially”. In Proc. Symbolikka, Aug 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Rovner, P.D. and Henderson Jr., D.A., “On the Implementation of AMBIT/G: A Graphical Programming Language”. In Proc. UCAI-69,1969, pp 9– 20.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Rowe, L.A., Davis, M., Messinger, E., Meyer, C., Spirakis, C. and Tuan, A., “A Browser for Directed Graphs”. Software — Practice and Experience, vol 17, no 1, 1987, pp 61–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Rubin, R.V., Golin, E.J. and Reiss, S.P., “ThinkPad: A Graphical System for Programming by Demonstration”. EEEE Software, March 1985, pp 73–79.

    Google Scholar 

  60. Shu, N.C., “FORMAL: A Forms-Oriented Visual Directed Application Development System”. IEEE Computer, vol 18, no 8, 1985, pp 38–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Shu, N.C., “Visual Programming Languages: A Dimensional Analysis”. In Proc. of the IEEE International Symp. on New Directions in Computing, 1985, pp 326–334.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Shu, N.C., “Visual Programming”. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Singh, G., “Programming by Example for Graphical User Interfaces”. In Proc. of the 1986 Canadian Information Processing Society (Edmonton) Annual Conf., 1986, pp 45–50.

    Google Scholar 

  64. Singh, G. and Green, M., “Designing the Interface Designer’s Interface”. In Proc. of the ACM SIGGRAPH Symp. on User Interface Software, ACM, New York, 1988, pp 109–116.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Singh, G., “The Druid User Interface Management System”. Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  66. Smith, D.C., “Pygmalion: A Computer Program to Model and Stimulate Creative Thought”. Basel, Stuttgart: Birkhauser, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  67. Smith, D.N., “Building Interfaces Interactively”. In ACM SIGGRAPH Symp. on User Interface Software, ACM, New York, 1988, pp 144–151.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Stasko, J.T., “TANGO: A Framework and System for Algorithm Animation”. Technical Report CS-89-30 (Ph.D. Dissertation), Dept. of Computer Science, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA, 1989, 257 pages.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Teitelman, W. and Masinter, L., “The Interlisp Programming Environment”. IEEE Computer, vol 14, no 4, 1981, pp 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Wasserman, A.I., “Extending State Transition Diagrams for the Specification of Human-Computer Interaction”. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol SE-11, no 8, 1985, pp 699–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Yao, S.B., Hevner, A.R., Shi, Z. and Luo, D., “FORMANAGER: An Office Forms Management System”. ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems, vol 2 no 3, 1984, pp 235–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Zloof, M.M., “Query-by-Example: A Database Language”. IBM Systems Journal, vol 16, no 4, 1977, pp 324–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Zloof, M.M., “QBE/OBE: A Language for Office and Business Automation”, IEEE Computer, vol 14, no 5, 1981, pp 13–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1990 Springer-Verlag Tokyo

About this paper

Cite this paper

Singh, G. (1990). Graphical Support for Programming: A Survey and Taxonomy. In: Chua, TS., Kunii, T.L. (eds) CG International ’90. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68123-6_21

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68123-6_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-68125-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-68123-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics