Characterization, specification and generation of visual language applications
Jeffrey D. McWhirter · 1996
The lure of graphics as a medium of communication can have a profound effect on the ability to create, manipulate and understand complex and dynamic information structures. The graphical representation of information and the ability to manipulate that information through its representation has dramatically changed the way in which computers are used and has broadened the range of problems that computer applications can address. However, this facility carries a price--developing effective interactive graphical applications is a difficult and time consuming task. The problem this research addresses is the effort required to construct these visual language applications. The class of applications this work addresses can be characterized as those that support the dynamic creation and manipulation of graph based visual languages. This class of visual languages is used in many areas of computer science and other fields of study. The goal of the research presented in this thesis is to facilitate the rapid construction of highly functional and usable interactive graphical applications. This goal is achieved through a conceptual characterization of the domain to which this work is applicable, an underlying system substrate which is a realization of the domain characterization and GrandView a visual specification environment.