Visual programming language

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"Boxes and arrows" redirects here. For the magazine, see Christina Wodtke.

KTechlab uses flowcharts to program microcontrollers graphically.

In computing, a visual programming language (VPL) is any programming language that lets users create 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, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. For example, many VPLs (known as dataflow or diagrammatic programming)^[1] are based on the idea of "boxes and arrows", where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations.

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.^{[citation
needed]}

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.^[2]

An instructive counterexample for visual programming languages is the Microsoft Visual Studio. 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.

[edit] Visual language and interfaces

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

AgentSheets, easy to use game authoring and computational science authoring tool
Alice
Analytica
AppWare, also known as MicroBrew, icon based programming for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows
AudioMulch, an audio signal flow based sound and music creation environment
Macromedia Authorware
Automator
Aviary Peacock, browser based visual laboratory
Befunge, an esoteric text-based programming language in which commands are laid out graphically in a text file
Blockly, a web-based, graphical programming language by Google, similar to Scratch
Blocky, a Common Lisp-based graphical programming language by David T. O'Toole
BYOB, an extension of Scratch which is used for teaching by UC Berkeley
CODE
CiMPLE, Visual Programming Language by ThinkLABs for teaching robotics
Clickteam's The games factory/Multimedia fusion series, environments made for visually developing games, pretty much like Game Maker
DRAKON, a language designed for developing the Soviet Buran spacecraft
Dynamo: Visual Programming for Revit, a graphical environment for exploring parametric functionality on top of that already offered by Revit, created by Ian Keough
EICASLAB, a software suite including a graphical language for supporting the design of control architectures
Executable UML, a profile of the Universal Modeling Language specification defining an executable semantics for a subset of UML
Flow a graphical integration language used in the webMethods platform
Flow-based programming
Function block diagrams, used in programmable logic controllers
Game Develop, tool pretty much like MMF/TGF/Construct that works on Linux and Windows made by Compil Games
Game Maker, an easy to use game development software made by Mark Overmars
Google App Inventor, a tool for creating applications for Google Android, based on OpenBlocks and Kawa
GNU Radio Companion, a signal processing environment using visual blocks
Grasshopper 3d, a generative modeling interface for Rhinoceros 3D
Helix and Double Helix, a pioneering database management system for the Apple Macintosh platform, created in 1983
Illumination Software Creator, a language and IDE for visually creating desktop and mobile software
Kodu, a software designed to program games with a 3D Interface developed by Microsoft Research
Kwikpoint, an isotype visual translator created by Alan Stillman
LabVIEW, a graphical language designed for engineers and scientists
Ladder logic, a language that simulates relay logic commonly used in programmable logic controllers
Lava
Lily, browser based visual programming environment
Limnor
Mama (software) - a programming language and IDE for building 3D animations and games
Max (software), visual programming environment for building interactive, real-time music and multimedia applications
- Max/MSP
- Pure Data
- nato.0+55+3d
Meemoo web-based modular data flow framework for "hackable web apps" meemoo.org
Microsoft Visual Programming Language, dataflow language for robotics programming that is a component of Microsoft Robotics Studio
MobileNation a web based platform for creating mobile applications through the use of an event-driven wiring approach.
Morphic (software), makes it easier to build and edit graphical objects by direct manipulation and from within programs; the whole Self (programming language) programming environment is built using Morphic
MST Workshop, an interactive visual programming language for creating mathematical solutions, rapid prototyping, two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphic applications
Nuke, a python based visual programming language for visual effects compositing by The Foundry
NXT-G, a visual programming language for the Lego Mindstorms NXT robotics kit
OpenDX scientific data visualization using a visual programming language and data flow model
OpenMusic, a visual programming language for music composition (based on Common Lisp Object System (CLOS)) applications, and mobile applications
OpenWire - adds visual dataflow programming abilities to Delphi via Visual Component Library (VCL) components and a graphical editor (homonymous binary protocol is unrelated)
OutSystems language, a visual modeling language to develop and change all layers of business centric web applications
Piet is an esoteric programming language designed by David Morgan-Mar, whose programs are bitmaps that look like abstract art.
Plumeria Smart Charts an object oriented flow chart language that creates 2D and 3D applications for iOS and Mac OS X by Solar Fusion Software
Prograph
Ptolemy
Quartz Composer, a language for processing and rendering graphical data (Mac OS X)
Reaktor, a DSP and MIDI-processing language by Native Instruments
SCADE
Scala Multimedia Authoring suite and complete multimedia system for AmigaOS and Windows
Scicos A graphical language associated with the numerical analysis package ScicosLab (originally SciLab).
Scratch, a product of MIT designed for kids in K-12 and after school programs
Simulink
Built on Squeak
- Etoys scripting
Sequential function chart, a Petri-net like programming language for programmable logic controllers
Softimage ICE, a node-based system that is used to create and modify 3D models, simulate particles and perform various other tasks
Snap!, a web-based, graphical programming language currently in development by UC Berkeley
Stagecast Creator, formerly Apple's Cocoa: Internet Authoring for Kids
StarLogo, an agent-based simulation language developed by Mitchel Resnick, Eric Klopfer, and others at MIT Media Lab. It is an extension of the Logo programming language, a dialect of Lisp.
Stencyl, a video game creation tool
StrategyTune, visual programming interface for creating expert advisors for MetaTrader 4
Subtext
SynthEdit, a Synthesizer construction tool using a VPL.
Tersus, an open source platform for the development of rich web applications by visually defining user interface, client side behavior and server side processing
ThingLab
ToonTalk, programming system for children
VEE
VisSim, modeling and simulation language, allows making mathematical models quickly and executing them in real-time
Virtools, a middleware used to create interactive 3D experiences
WebML, is a visual language for designing complex data-intensive Web applications that can be automatically generated
WireFusion, visual programming environment for creating interactive 3D web presentations
Vsxu, music visual / real time 3D graphics generation (Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac Os X)
vvvv, real time video synthesis
Waterbear, toolkit for creating drag-and-drop programming languages
XEE, a visual data processing language for ETL tasks