Towards a Universal Framework for Visual Programming Languages

Muhammad Idrees; Faisal Aslam; Khurram Shahzad; Syed Mansoor Sarwar

Author(s)

Muhammad Idrees Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT), University of the Punjab,Lahore,Pakistan

Faisal Aslam Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT), University of the Punjab,Lahore,Pakistan

Khurram Shahzad Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT), University of the Punjab,Lahore,Pakistan

Syed Mansoor Sarwar Punjab University College of Information Technology (PUCIT), University of the Punjab,Lahore,Pakistan

Abstract

A Visual Programming Language (VPL) can help programmers quickly develop robust programs using simple drag-and-drop of visual elements, without worrying about the syntactic details of a programming language. In contrast to the textual programming languages, a VPL is usually designed for a specific domain such as to teach programming to beginners or to develop engineering models. Therefore, it is highly likely that numerous VPLs will be developed in future for different tasks and domains. Presently, each new VPL being developed is either created from scratch, or in some cases a newly developed VPL has used codebase of only a single existing VPL. Consequently, significant effort is required for developing a new VPL. This paper highlights the need of a universal framework to drastically reduce the time and effort required to develop a new VPL, and to enhance reusability of an existing VPL codebase. The framework offers a layered approach to VPL development. The layered approach offers an opportunity to generate a VPL layer by combining components from the corresponding layers of existing VPLs while writing minimal new components of the layer when required.

Publication Details

Page(s) 55-65

DOI DOI not available

Published Journal: Pakistan Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Volume: 23, Issue: 0, Year: 2018

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Keywords

VPL evolution, VisFra, VPL, Visual programming languages