Author Description

Structure-based editors are software tools that aid in the development of programs through the knowledge and utilization of the underlying structure inherent in all graphcal and non-graphical programming languages. They have developed from the early, highly restrictive text-based program editors to sophisticated graphical tools supporting new languages, methodologies, representations, and views. The concepts used to create these powerful tools have now been incorporated into widely available commercial systems, moving them out of the domain of experimental research vehicles and firmly into the market place. This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of structure-based editors and environments. The two world-renowned editors bring together papers from international researchers covering the underlying concepts, benefits, applications, problems and lessons learned from the on-going development of this highly complex class of tools. This book will encourage the reader to apply the structure-editing concepts to their own field of work and will identify common links to widely used programming environments such as Visual Basic, Visual C, editors for HTML, and, most recently, editors for Java, tools which are essentially structure editors although rarely identified as such. The book is organized into four sections, each with three chapters from authors who are currently working in the field. Structure-based Editors and Environments will be essential reading for students and researchers studying Human-computer interaction as well as computer systems developers and software engineers working on highly interactive software. Details the use of structure editors in many common commercial applications Examines links between seemingly past concepts with very modern approaches Clarifies the range of topics which fall under the umbrella term Structure Editing