Visual Languages

456 Pages·1987·25.78 MB·

by  Shi-Kuo Chang (auth.), Shi-Kuo Chang, Tadao Ichikawa, Panos A. Ligomenides (eds.)

VISUAL
LANGUAGES
MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
EDITORIAL BOARD:
A. Bensoussan, Le Chesnay, France Y. Oishi, Tokyo, Japan
S. K. Chang, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania N. Miiller, Osnabriick, Federal
H. W. Gottinger, Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany
Republic of Germany G. Pask, Richmond, England
M. D. Intriligator, Los Angeles, D. W. Peterson, Durham,
California North Carolina
R. E. Kalman, Zurich, Switzerland M. Thoma, Hannover, Federal
R. Kling, Irvine, California Republic of Germany
A. Klinger, Los Angeles, California P. P. Wang, Durham, North Carolina
R. W. Liu, South Bend, Indiana A. B. Whinston, West Lafayette,
T. Marschak, Berkeley, California Indiana
B. H. McCormick, College Station, L. A. Zadeh, Berkeley: California
Texas
R. Michalski, Urbana-Champaign,
Illinois
LANGUAGES FOR AUTOMATION
Edited by Shi-Kuo Chang
MANAGEMENT AND OFFICE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Edited by Shi-Kuo Chang
VISUAL LANGUAGES
Edited by Shi-Kuo Chang, Tadao Ichikawa, and Panos A. Ligomenides
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of
each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment.
For further information please contact the publisher.
VISUAL
LANGUAGES
EDITED BY
SHI-KUO CHANG
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
TADAO ICHIKAWA
Hiroshima University
Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
AND
PANOS A. LIGOMENIDES
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Visual languages.
(Management and information systems)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Image processing-Digital techniques. 2. Programming languages (Electronic
computers) I. Chang, S. K. (Shi Kuo), 1944- . II. Series.
TA1632.V56 1986 006.6'6 86-25357
ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-9010-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-1805-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4613-1805-7
First Printing-December 1986
Second Printing-July 1989
© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1986
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transm~tted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
CONTRIBUTORS
K. ASS MANN • Institut fur Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung in der Medizin, Universitiitskran
kenhaus Eppendorf, Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany
S. K. CHANG. Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
KAI CHU • Department of Computer Information Systems, Humboldt State University, Arcata,
California
OLIVIER CLARISSE. AT&T Bell Laboratories, Software Automation Group, Naperoille,
Illinois
MASAHITO HIRAKAWA. Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,
japan
K. H. HOHNE • Institut for Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung in der Medizin, Universi-
tiitskrankenhaus Eppendorf, Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany
TADAO ICHIKAWA. Faculty ofE ngineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,japan
ROBERT J. K. JACOB • Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C.
ERLAND jUNGERT • National Defense Research Institute, Applied Electronics Department, Lin-
kOping, Sweden
TOHRU KIKUNO • Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, japan
MARGARET A. KORFHAGE • Trammell Crow Company, Dallas, Texas
ROBERT R. KORFHAGE • Department of Computer Science, Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, Texas
STEPHEN M. KOSSL YN • Department of Psychology and Social Relations, Haroard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts
FRED LAKIN • Veterans Administration Medical Center, Palo Alto, California
JAMES A. LARSON. Honeywell Corporate Systems Development Division, Bloomington,
Minnesota
P. A. LIGOMENIDES • Electrical Engineering Department, University of Maryland, College
Park, Maryland
jUN'ICHI MIYAO • Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, japan
NORIAKI MONDEN • Faculty ofE ngineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,japan
GABRIELE ROHR • IBM Science Center, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany
MARCIA S. RUNYAN. Department of Computer Science, University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington
NAN C. SHU • IBM Academic Information Systems, Los Angeles Scientific Center, Los Angeles,
California
KAZUO SUGIHARA • Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, japan
MASA YUKI TAKAYAMA • Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,
japan
v
VI CONTRIBUTORS
MINORU TANAKA. Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
STEVEN L. TANIMOTO • Department of Computer Science, University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington
MICHAEL J. TAUBER. IBM Science Center, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany
R. VENEMA • lnstitut for Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung in der Medizin, Universitiitskran
kenhaus, Eppendorf, Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany
ROBERT J. WEBER. Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater,
Oklahoma
NORIYOSHI YOSHIDA. Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,
Japan
IWAO YOSHIMOTO • Faculty of Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima,
Japan
PREFACE
This book is intended as both an introduction to the state-of-the-art in
visual languages, as well as an exposition of the frontiers of research in
advanced visual languages. It is for computer scientists, computer engi
neers, information scientists, application programmers, and technical
managers responsible for software development projects who are inter
ested in the methodology and manifold applications of visual languages
and visual programming.
The contents of this book are drawn from invited papers, as well as
selected papers from two workshops: the 1985 IEEE Workshop on Lan
guages for Automation-Cognitive Aspects in Information Processing,
which was held in Mallorca, Spain, June 28-30, 1985; and the 1984 IEEE
Workshop on Visual Languages, which was held in Hiroshima, Japan,
December 7-9, 1984. Panos Ligomenides and I organized the technical
program of LFA '85, and Tadao Ichikawa and I organized the techni
cal program of VL '84. Both workshops have now become successful
annual events in their own right. The intersecting area of visual languages
and visual programming especially has become a fascinating new research
area. It is hoped that this book will focus the reader's attention on some
of the interesting research issues as well as the potential for future
applications.
After reading this book, the reader will undoubtedly get an impression
that visual languages and the concept of generalized icons can be studied
fruitfully from many different perspectives, including computer graphics,
formal language theory, educational methodology, cognitive psychology
and visual design. Cooperative and interdisciplinary research can lead to a
better understanding of the visual communication process for developing
an effective methodology to design the next generation of visual
languages.
Shi-Kuo Chang
University of Pittsburgh
vii
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
VISUAL LANGUAGES AND ICONIC LANGUAGES Shi-Kuo Chang 1
PART I
VISUAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
1. VISUAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES: A PERSPECTIVE AND A
DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS Nan C. Shu 11
2. SPATIAL PARSING FOR VISUAL LANGUAGES Fred Lakin 35
3. A VISUAL PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT FOR DESIGNING USER
INTERFACES Robert J. K. jacob 87
4. A VISUAL LANGUAGE FOR FORMS DEFINITION AND
MANIPULATION Kazuo Sugihara,jun'ichi Miyao, Masayuki Takayama,
Tohru Kikuno, and Noriyoshi Yoshida 109
5. VISUAL LANGUAGES FOR DATABASE USERS james A. Larson 127
PART II
ICONIC AND VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING LANGUAGES
6. VICON: A VISUAL ICON MANAGER Olivier Clarisse and
Shi-Kuo Chang 151
7. PLAY: AN ICONIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM FOR CHILDREN
Steven L. Tanimoto and Marcia S. Runyan 191
8. CRITERIA FOR ICONIC LANGUAGES Robert R. Korfhage and
Margaret A. Korfhage 207
9. HI-VISUAL: A LANGUAGE SUPPORTING VISUAL INTERACTION IN
PROGRAMMING Masahito Hirakawa, Noriaki Monden, [wao Yoshimoto,
Minoru Tanaka, and Tadao Ichikawa 233
10. THE ISQL LANGUAGE: A SOFTWARE TOOL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
OF PICTORIAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN MEDICINE K. Assman,
R. Venema, and K. H. Hohne 261
IX
x CONTENTS
11. A CONCEPTUAL IMAGE DATA MODEL FOR IMAGE INFORMATION
RETRIEVAL Erland Jungert 285
PART III
COGNITIVE ASPECTS IN VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING
12. COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND MENTAL IMAGERY Robert J. Weber and
Stephen M. Kosslyn 305
13. USING VISUAL CONCEPTS Gabriele Rohr 325
14. THE COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF CHINESE CHARACTER
PROCESSING Kai Chu 349
15. TOP-DOWN DESIGN OF HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACES
Michael J. Tauber 393
16. THE EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE BASE AS A COGNITIVE
PROSTHESIS Panos A. Ligomenides 431
INDEX 453
INTRODUCTION: VISUAL
LANGUAGES AND ICONIC
LANGUAGES
SHI-Kuo CHANG
The term "visual language" means different things to different people. To
some, it means the objects handled by the language are visual. To others,
it means the language itself is visual. To the first group of people, "visual
language" means "language for processing visual information," or "visual
information processing language." To the second group of people, "vis
uallanguage" means "language for programming with visual expressions,"
or "visual programming language."
In visual information processing languages, the objects to be dealt
with usually have an inherent visual representation. They are images or
pictorial objects which are associated with certain logical interpretations.
On the other hand, the languages themselves may not have a visual rep
resentation. These languages are usually based upon traditional "linear"
languages, enhanced by library subroutines or software packages to deal
with visual objects. Application domains of visual information processing
languages include image processing, computer vision, robotics, image
database management, office automation, image communications, etc.
In visual programming languages, the objects to be dealt with usually
do not have an inherent visual representation. They include traditional
data types such as arrays, stacks, queues, and application-oriented data
types such as forms, documents, databases, etc. To achieve a user-friendly
man-machine interface, we would like to present these objects visually.
For the same reason, the languages themselves also should be presented
visually. In other words, programming constructs and how to combine
these programming constructs are visually presented. Application domains
SHI-KUO CHANG • Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pitts
burgh, Pennsylvania 15260.