End-User Programming of Time as an 'Ordinary' Dimension in Grid-Oriented Visual Programming Languages

摘要

Specifying varying speeds and temporal relationships is necessary when programming graphical animations, but support for temporal programming has usually been done by adding new language features to a VPL, and these features must be mastered over and above the other aspects of the VPL. However, some researchers have believed that time should be able to be treated like just another dimension. In this paper, we explore whether programming of temporal relationships can be supported using exactly the same devices as in spatial programming in grid-oriented VPLs, Toward this end, we provide a continuum of models aimed at this goal, with their advantages and disadvantages, and identify core issues that help illuminate the essence of the problem. We also describe an empirical study comparing one of these models against a widely used traditional approach. The results were that end users were significantly more successful using the one model tested than with the traditional approach.