Combining Graphics and a Layout Language in a Single Interactive System

Layout languages provide users with the capability to algorithmically define cells. But the specification language is so non-intuitive that it is impossible to debug a design in that language, one must plot it. Interactive graphics systems, on the other hand, allow the user to debug in the form in which he sees the design, but severely restrict the language he may use to express the graphics. For example, he cannot express loops or conditionals. What is really needed is a single interactive system that combines layout language and graphic modifications to the data. This paper describes just such a system.