Visual Structure Language

CAMPBELL, PHILIP L. ; ESPINOZA, JUAN

Sandia National Laboratories

关键词: Documentation;    Programming Languages;    Computer Codes;    99 General And Miscellaneous//Mathematics, Computing, And Information Science;   

DOI  :  10.2172/789522
RP-ID  :  SAND2001-3093
RP-ID  :  AC04-94AL85000
RP-ID  :  789522

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

In this paper we describe a new language, Visual Structure Language (VSL), designed to describe the structure of a program and explain its pieces. This new language is built on top of a general-purpose language, such as C. The language consists of three extensions: explanations, nesting, and arcs. Explanations are comments explicitly associated with code segments. These explanations can be nested. And arcs can be inserted between explanations to show data- or control-flow. The value of VSL is that it enables a developer to better control a code. The developer can represent the structure via nested explanations, using arcs to indicate the flow of data and control. The explanations provide a ''second opinion'' about the code so that at any level, the developer can confirm that the code operates as it is intended to do. We believe that VSL enables a programmer to use in a computer language the same model--a hierarchy of components--that they use in their heads when they conceptualize systems.