Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Larch Environment' is designed for the creation of programs that take the \nform of interactive technical literature. We introduce a novel approach to combined \ntextual and visual programming by allowing visual, interactive objects \nto be embedded within textual source code, and segments of source code to be \nfurther embedded within those objects. We retain the strengths of text-based \nsource code, while enabling visual programming where it is bene�cial. Additionally, \nembedded objects and code provide a simple object-oriented approach \nto extending the syntax of a language, in a similar fashion to LISP macros. We \nprovide a rapid prototyping and experimentation environment in the form of \nan active document system which mixes rich text with executable source code. \nLarch is supported by a simple type coercion based presentation protocol that \ndisplays normal Java and Python objects in a visual, interactive form. The \nability to freely combine objects and source code within one another allows for \nthe construction of rich interactive documents and experimentation with novel \nprogramming language extensions.
Author: Geoffrey French
Language: English
Subfield: Software
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1017907833