The Mjφlner Environment: Direct Interaction with Abstractions

摘要

This paper presents the user interface to programs and their execution in the Mjolner Programming Environment. The key idea is to present the programming language abstractions, such as classes and procedures, as individual windows which the user can interact with directly. This approach is used consistently to visualize both a program and its execution. The windows are arranged hierarchically reflecting the static nesting of blocks. The window hierarchy gives powerful support for interaction and navigation in a program. Incremental compilation techniques are used to make a high level of interaction and integration possible.