Work

Adding interactive visual syntax to textual code

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Many programming problems call for turning geometrical thoughts into code: tables, hierarchical structures, nests of objects, trees, forests, graphs, and so on. Linear text does not do justice to such thoughts. But, it has been the dominant programming medium for the past and will remain so for the foreseeable future. This paper proposes a novel mechanism for conveniently extending textual programming languages with problem-specific visual syntax. It argues the necessity of this language feature, demonstrates the feasibility with a robust prototype, and sketches a design plan for adapting the idea to other languages.

Source: Proceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages

DOI: 10.1145/3428290

Authors: Leif Andersen, Michael Ballantyne, Matthias Felleisen

Institution: Northeastern University

Language: English

Topic: Logic, programming, and type systems

Subfield: Software

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: CRI: CI-SUSTAIN: Racket on Alternative Platforms