可视化语言技术在软件开发中的应用

可视化语言技术比一维文本语言在描述软件组成方面具有优越性.由于图表和图形概念在系统建模中的广泛使用,可视化语言可以应用于需求分析、设计、测试和维护等软件开发的各个阶段.除了具有直观易见的特点之外,图文法在计算机上的精确建模和验证能力,为设计可视化语言提供了一个坚实的理论基础.讨论了可视化语言的形式理论基础,回顾了相关的可视化图形编程环境.特别提出了一种空间图文法,并且用该图文法定义了统一建模语言的行为语义.基于空间图文法,开发了一种基于模式驱动的框架,以帮助软件架构与设计.     

Parsing nonlinear languages

The diagrammatic approach to user interfaces for computer-aided software development toolkits, visual query systems, and visual programming environments, is based on the use of diagrams and charts traditionally drawn on paper. In particular, the VLG system (Visual Language Generator) has been proposed to generate icon-oriented visual languages customized for given applications. The syntactical model underlying the interpretation of a visual language in VLG has been designed to describe icon-oriented visual languages. In order to enable the VLG system to apply to any kind of graphical languages, like diagrammatic ones, it is necessary to find a more general syntactical model able to support both their generation and interpretation. This paper addresses the comprehension of the features that a grammatical formalism for nonlinear languages must have to match any requirement for an efficient parsing. To this aim, relation grammars support an easy implementation of a general parsing algorithm for multidimensional languages, parametric with respect to the rewriting rules of the grammar. We compare the expressive power of relation grammars to grammatical formalisms for graph grammars     

上下文相关图文法分析及其应用初探

图文法是一种对可视化语言进行形式化定义的元语言，具有表达自然、能力强大的特点.随着使用可视化语言的最终用户编程技术的广泛应用，图文法分析尤其是上下文相关图文法分析在工程应用中的重要性日益突出.国内外相关文献或着重于纯理论探讨，或局限于特定语法类的特定应用，不利于工程应用人员参考.本文选取简洁明了的符号体系，介绍上下文相关图文法分析的一般性过程，并将其中规则选取关键步骤描述为CSP问题，利用已有的针对CSP问题的优化方法来优化算法，介绍了现有的优化方法并给出实现算法;同时，结合自身实践，讨论其在一个面向体系结构的Web服务集成系统中的应用.     

软件图语言的形式描述

本文从语言学和形式化角度对软件领域中广泛使用的软件图进行了研究，提出了软件图语言这一概念。本文首先提出了关于软件图语言的一组基本概念，其次研究软件图语言的同态和同构，以构成软件图形式描述的基础；最后讨论了软件图语言的形式表示法，并提出了基于图符网的文法，使图文法更适合于表示软件图语言。本文工作可以作为设计面向软件图语言的软件工具的基础。     

Computing with graphs and graph transformations

Many software applications require the construction and manipulation of graphs. In standard programming languages, this is accomplished using low‐level mechanisms such as pointer manipulation or array indexing. In contrast, graph productions are a convenient high‐level visual notation for coding graph modifications. A graph production replaces one subgraph by another subgraph. Graph productions can define a graph grammar and graph language, or can directly transform an input graph into an output graph. Graph transformation has been applied in many areas, including the definition of visual languages and their tools, the construction of software development environments, the definition of constraint programming algorithms, the modeling of distributed systems, and the construction of neural networks. One application is presented in detail: the interpretation of mathematical notation in scanned document images. The graph models the set of mathematical symbols, and their spatial and logical relationships. This graph is transformed by productions written in the PROGRES language. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

vCGG:一种基于虚结点的空间图文法形式框架

作为一种二维的形式化方法,图文法为可视化语言提供了直观而规范的描述手段.然而,大多数图文法形式框架在空间语义处理能力方面有所不足,影响了图文法的表达能力及其实际应用范围.针对现存的问题,构建了一种新型空间图文法形式框架vCGG （virtual-node based coordinate graph grammar）.区别于其他空间图文法,vCGG在产生式中通过定义虚结点的概念描述产生式与主图之间的语法结构与空间语义关系,在保留抽象能力的同时,提高了其空间语义配置性能.通过与几种典型空间图文法框架比较,vCGG形式框架在直观性、规范性、表达能力以及分析效率方面均有着较好的表现.     

Formalizing visual interaction with historical databases

Recent database applications are typically oriented towards a large set of non-expert users, and therefore, they need to be equipped with suitable interfaces facilitating the interaction with the system. Moreover, the incorporation of the time dimension in database systems is a desirable feature. Indeed, several temporal data models and the corresponding textual query languages have been proposed. However, there is a limited amount of research concerning the investigation of user-oriented languages for querying temporal databases. Our proposal addresses such a need. In particular, we propose a visual query environment, namely Temporal Visual Query Environment (TVQE) which provides an easier interaction of the user with temporal databases. The system adopts a diagrammatic representation of the database schema (including temporal classes and relationships) and a “graphical notebook” as interaction metaphor. In our approach, non-database experts are released from syntactical difficulties which are typical of textual languages, and they can easily express temporal queries by means of elementary graphical operations (e.g. click on a node label). Differently from many proposals in the field of visual query languages, the language underlying TVQE is provided with formal syntax and semantics. It is based on a minimal set of temporal graphical primitives (TGPs), which are defined on a Temporal Graph Model (TGM), with visual syntax and object-based semantics. In this paper we mainly concentrate on the formal aspects of TVQE, and provide some hints on the visual interaction mechanisms and implementation issues.     

Exploring the Effect of Control-Flow and Traversal Direction on VPL Usability for Novices

Programming is a hard cognitive activity, especially for novices who also have to struggle with learning the intricacies of the programming language syntax. We postulate that a well-designed diagrammatic visual programming language (VPL) to replace or substitute a textual programming language may help in the learning programming process. Our research focuses on the suitability of diagrammatic notations for such a VPL. In this paper, we report results from two experimental studies into diagrammatic notations. The first experiment shows the superiority of three visual representations over a conventional style textual program in both control- and data-flow paradigms. The result also shows the effect of programming paradigm on novices' performance. The second experiment focuses on two aspects of program flow representation: the graphical representation to be used for sequencing, and the traversal direction required of diagram users. It reveals that graphical representation does not affect performance in tracing program flow but that traversal direction makes a difference in cognitive demand on users. The evidence also indicates a control-flow preference among novices.     

上下文相关图文法的表达能力分析

上下文相关图文法是描述可视化语言的形式化工具.为了直观地刻画并高效地分析可视化语言,已有图文法形式框架均着重于文法形式和分析算法的研究,而忽略了对它们之间表达能力的分析.在对已有上下文相关图文法形式框架的关键特征进行分析和归纳的基础上,通过构造不同形式框架之间的转换算法,揭示并形式化证明了它们表达能力之间的关系.而且,转换算法在不同形式框架之间建立了关联,使图文法的应用不必再局限于一个框架,而是可以选择不同框架分别进行图的描述和分析,从而提高了上下文相关图文法的易用性.     

Defining the abstract syntax of visual languages with advanced graph grammars—A case study based on behavior trees

Diagrammatic visual languages can increase the ability of engineers to model and understand complex systems. However, to effectively use visual models, the syntax and semantics of these languages should be defined precisely. Since most diagrammatic visual models that are currently used to specify systems can be described as (directed) typed graphs, graph grammars have been identified as a suitable formalism to describe the abstract syntax of visual modeling languages. In this article, we investigate how advanced graph-transformation techniques, such as conditional, structure-generic and type-generic graph-transformation rules, can help to improve and simplify the specification of the abstract syntax of a visual modeling language. To demonstrate the practicability of an approach that unifies these advanced graph-transformation techniques, we define the abstract syntax of behavior trees (BTs), a graphical specification language for functional requirements. Additionally, we provide a translational semantics of BTs by formalizing a translation scheme to the input language of the SAL model checking tool for each of the graph-transformation rules.     

嵌入一致图语法的依赖图

图语法将字符串上的形式文法扩充为图上的形式文法,提供一种能够使用精确的数学方法来模拟图变换的机制.提出了几种新的基于一致图语法的方法来表示控制流图、数据流图、控制数据流图、二分图和超图,并说明如何通过图重写来自动生成依赖图并挖掘并行性,从而协助并行编译器和并行语言的设计和实现.     

Grammar-based model transformations: Definition,execution, and quality properties

Model transformation is a key concept in model-driven software engineering. The definition of model transformations is usually based on meta-models describing the abstract syntax of languages. While meta-models are thereby able to abstract from superfluous details of concrete syntax, they often loose structural information inherent in languages, like information on model elements always occurring together in particular shapes. As a consequence, model transformations cannot naturally re-use language structures, thus leading to unnecessary complexity in their development as well as in quality assurance.In this paper, we propose a new approach to model transformation development which allows to simplify the developed transformations and improve their quality via the exploitation of the languages׳ structures. The approach is based on context-free graph grammars and transformations defined by pairing productions of source and target grammars. We show that such transformations have important properties: they terminate and are sound, complete, and deterministic.     

A bootstrap approach to visual user-interface design and development

An approach to the design of effective computer-based systems is discussed. This approach exploits the user's traditional diagrammatic notations in an effort to achieve usability for experts other than computer professionals. Notations are formalized as visual languages, thus allowing the design of visual editors, interpreters, and compilers. The users themselves exploit these tools to define a hierarchy of environments by a bootstrapping approach. By navigating within these environments, they can progressively design visual interfaces and computing tools that allow them not only to execute the required computational tasks, but also to gain insight into and control the computational process, and check the results.     

COCOVILA – Compiler-Compiler for Visual Languages

A compiler-compiler for visual languages is presented. It has been designed as a framework for building visual programming environments that translate schemas into textual representation as well as into programs representing the deep meaning of schemas. The deep semantics is implemented by applying attribute grammars to schema languages; attribute dependencies are implemented as methods of Java classes. Unlike compiler-compilers of textual languages, a large part of the framework is needed for support of interactive usage of a visual language.     

A constraint-based framework for diagrammatic reasoning

In the near future, visual and diagrammatic human-computer interfaces, such as those of UML-based CASE tools, will be required to offer a much more intelligent behavior than just editing. Yet there is very little formal support and there are almost no tools available for the construction of intelligent diagrammatic environments. The present paper introduces a constraint-based formalism for the specification and implementation of complex diagrammatic environments. We start from grammar-based definitions of diagrammatic languages and show how a constraint solver for diagram recognition and interpretation can automatically be constructed from such grammars. In a second step, the capabilities of these solvers are extended by allowing to axiomatise formal diagrammatic systems so that they can be regarded as a new constraint domain. The ultimate aim of this schema is to establish a constraint logic language for diagrammatic reasoning applications.     

Evaluating real-time software specification languages

In recent years, many notations and methods in real-time software engineering have been proposed. However, thorough experimentation to evaluate these notations and methods has not been carried out. This paper focuses on real-time software engineering specification languages: Unified Modeling Language (UML), Real-Time Object-Oriented Modeling Language (ROOM), Modecharts, statecharts, Mealy and Moore machines, finite state machines, classical logic, Z, ASTRAL, temporal logic, FNLOG, linear logic, Timed Communicating Sequential Processes (TCSP), Temporal Calculus of Communicating Systems (TCCS), ρ1, and Multilevel Specification. The basis for evaluating these software engineering specification languages is by using the Turing machines and Interaction machines. We classify them based on their computational capabilities.     

Event-driven grammars: relating abstract and concrete levels of visual languages

In this work we introduce event-driven grammars, a kind of graph grammars that are especially suited for visual modelling environments generated by meta-modelling. Rules in these grammars may be triggered by user actions (such as creating, editing or connecting elements) and in their turn may trigger other user-interface events. Their combination with triple graph transformation systems allows constructing and checking the consistency of the abstract syntax graph while the user is building the concrete syntax model, as well as managing the layout of the concrete syntax representation. As an example of these concepts, we show the definition of a modelling environment for UML sequence diagrams. A discussion is also presented of methodological aspects for the generation of environments for visual languages with multiple views, its connection with triple graph grammars, the formalization of the latter in the double pushout approach and its extension with an inheritance concept. This is a revised and extended version of a paper presented at the ICGT’04 conference, see [21].     

Visual Depiction of Decision Statements: What is Best for Programmers and Non-Programmers?

This paper reports the results of two experiments investigating differences in comprehensibility of textual and graphical notations for representing decision statements. The first experiment was a replication of a prior experiment that found textual notations to be better than particular graphical notations. After replicating this study, two other hypotheses were investigated in a second experiment. Our first claim is that graphics may be better for technical, non-programmers than they are for programmers because of the great amount of experience that programmers have with textual notations in programming languages. The second is that modifications to graphical forms may improve their usefulness. The results support both of these hypotheses.     

String-Pattern Matching in a Visual Programming Language

Determining whether or not a pattern of characters is present within a body of text is such a fundamental problem that it has led to a number of notations for the specification of patterns. These include regular expressions, and notations found within string processing and other application-specific languages. Too often, these approaches are either overly simplistic, offering little in the way of pattern-matching capabilities, or else they are extremely cryptic and terse.In the context of visual programming, the string- pattern-matching problem is largely unaddressed; yet the benefits ascribed to such languages offer the potential for extremely powerful and intuitively meaningful pattern notations. In the CALVIN language, designed for the creation of courseware, the authors have used purely visual constructs throughout. In particular, the content of strings may be analysed by using a graphical and augmented version of regular expressions to specify patterns. This notation, and its realization within CALVIN, is described in some detail, and comparisons are made with the more conventional textual form.