The design view: a design oriented, high-level visual programming environment

The authors propose a concise graphical convention for representing a problem decomposition that can be used on paper, in the classroom, and on the computer. They then propose an implementation of this convention as an extension to an existing structure-editor programming environment, which allows high-level design to take-place online. As the user graphically edits this design, the system silently tracks the set of low-level details that are necessary to ultimately conform the program code with the design. The necessary changes are then presented sequentially to the user after the design phase is complete. It is further suggested that this convention is useful as a way to view already completed programs, and as a tool for debugging.<>