Towards a Framework for Developing Processors for Visual Languages

A proposal for the design of a framework for developing processors for visual languages is presented. The concept of visual language is discussed and the framework-based approach to implementing visual languages is motivated. The underlying grammar-based model for specifying visual (multi-dimensional) languages is described and the main features of the proposed framework are presented. The framework aims at preserving much of the declarative nature of grammar-based language speciication while creating an open-ended architecture for integrating language processors into various kinds of applications.