Visual Meta-Programming Notation

Abstract

This paper describes a draft of visual notation for meta-programming. The main suggestions of this work include specialized data structures (lists, tuples, trees), data item associations that provide for creation of arbitrary graphs, visualization of data structures and data flows, graphical notation for pattern matching (list, tuple, and tree patterns, graphical notation for context free grammars, streams), encapsulation means for hierarchical rules design, two-dimensional data-flow diagrams for rules , visual control constructs for conditionals and iteration, default mapping rules to reduce real-estate requirements for diagrams, and dynamic data attributes. Two-dimensional data flow diagrams improve readability of a meta-program. The abstract syntax type definitions for common programming languages and related default mappings (parsing and de-parsing) provide for a practically feasible reuse of those components.