Visual Instance Inlining and Specialization: Building Domain-Specific Diagrams from Reusable Types

Abstract

Block diagram languages are often used for physical modeling and automation, where end users are domain engineers that instantiate block types and wire them together. Abstraction mechanisms in these languages allow specialists to build advanced reusable domain-specific libraries. However, this brings a tension between supporting reusability and making the language simple to comprehend for domain engineers. We propose a technique for relieving this tension by supporting visual instance inlining and smart editing mechanisms based on instance specialization. The new technique allows end users to visually edit and comprehend diagrams in terms of domain blocks only, while the underlying program makes use of reusable library types.