Towards collaborative programming environment: a case study on visualization system

The concept of groupware is not new. This paper discusses issues about realizing it and proposes a collaborative programming environment as an approach. To explain how to establish such an environment, various aspects of collaborative programming such as modules, data templates and wrappers are introduced. We also examine the syntax and semantics of visual languages and show how programming becomes straightforward, yet flexible in visual programming with these modules. Collaborative programming is illustrated by the different phases of the development of an application system. Some advanced topics are discussed, and the paper is concluded by indicating that great effort should be made towards a sophisticated collaborative programming environment