Visual Meta-Programming Language

Abstract

This paper presents a relatively simple visual notation for meta-programming that spans multiple levels of abstraction. Two-dimensional data flow provides readable representations of meta-programs that expose potential parallelism. This work suggests visual notations for data structures, data flows, pattern matching, conditionals, iteration and synchronization. The framework provides encapsulation means for hierarchical rule design, data item associations that enable creation of arbitrary graphs, and default mapping rules to reduce screen real-estate requirements. The representation supports practical reuse of generic data structures for program representation, abstract syntax type definitions for common programming languages, and related default mappings (e.g. parsing and de-parsing, module dependency graphs, class diagrams, etc.).