A Visual programming language (VPL) is any programming language that lets users specify programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols. Most VPLs are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows," that is, boxes or circles or bubbles, treated as screen objects, connected by arrows, lines or arcs.

VPLs may be further classified, according to the type and extent of visual expression used, into icon-based languages, form-based languages, and diagram languages. Visual programming environments provide graphical or iconic elements which can be manipulated by users in an interactive way according to some specific spatial grammar for program construction.

A visually transformed language is a non-visual language with a superimposed visual representation. Naturally visual languages have an inherent visual expression for which there is no obvious textual equivalent.

Current developments try to integrate the visual programming approach with dataflow programming languages to either have immediate access to the program state resulting in online debugging or automatic program generation and documentation (i.e. visual paradigm). Dataflow languages also allow automatic parallelization, which is likely to become one of the greatest programming challenges of the future (see Johnston, W.M.; Hanna, J.R.P. and Millar, R.J. (2004). "Advances in dataflow programming languages". ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR) 36 (1): 1-34. Retrieved on 2007-03-31. ).

Visual languages

• AgentSheets, easy to use game authoring and computational science authoring tool
• Alice
• , multimedia authoring tool released by Commodore with Amiga A3000
• Analytica
• Automator
• multimedia authoring and application building tool for AmigaOS
• CODE
• DRAKON
• Flow
• application building tool for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS
• jMax, a visual programming environment for building interactive, real-time music and multimedia applications.
• LabVIEW
• Ladder logic, a language that simulates relay logic commonly used in Programmable logic controllers
• Lava
• Limnor
• Max/MSP
• Microsoft Visual Programming Language, dataflow language for Robotics programming that is a component of Microsoft Robotics Studio
• Mindscript, easy to use and understand multiple-purpose visual programming language
• MST Workshop an interpretive VPL for Math, Science, and Technology.
• nato.0+55+3d
• OpenMusic, a visual programming language for music composition (based on CLOS)
• Prograph
• Pure Data
• Quartz Composer
• SCADE
• Scala Multimedia Authoring suite and complete multimedia system for AmigaOS and Windows
• Simulink
• Built on Squeak
  • Etoys scripting
  • Scratch
• Stagecast Creator, formerly Apple's Cocoa
• Subtext
• SynthMaker, an audio programming tool using a visual programming language
• ThingLab
• ToonTalk
• VEE
• VisSim
• virtools

Note: Microsoft Visual Studio and the languages it encompasses (Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual J#, etc.) are commonly confused to be but are not visual programming languages. All of these languages are textual and not graphical. MS Visual Studio is a visual programming environment, but not a visual programming language hence the confusion.

See also

• Dataflow programming
• Domain-Specific Modeling
• Flow-based programming
• Unified Modeling Language
• Deutsch Limit
• Widget Workshop

External links

• Visual Programming Languages at the Open Directory Project

This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, used with permission. Update as needed.

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