Vispatch Tutorial (using Java 1.02) > TOC > Conclusions

Conclusions

Vispatch is a figure rewriting language that is completely visual. The figures that make up the language can also be rewritten by the language. This makes the language reflective. In addition, its rewriting rules are driven by events, which can be issued by the user or by other rewrite rules. This makes the language interactive and supports recursion. Vispatch's descriptive power is strong enough to build a programming environment for editing the Vispatch language itself.

The examples in the tutorial demonstrated how the rewrite rules and program visibility can make programs that are easy to understand. The examples also demonstrate significant power such as recursion, reflection, and interactivity. It will be interesting to see whether future research will be able to extend this power while retaining the underlying simplicity.