Graphical rewrite rule analogies: avoiding the inherit or copy and paste reuse dilemma

Abstract

Reuse mechanisms, such as inheritance in an object oriented programming approach, are useful to professional programmers but fail to support the occasional programming needs of the end user. Consequently, a surprisingly high percentage of end users resort to "copy and paste" approaches for reuse instead of making appropriate use of object oriented techniques. Visual analogies are a reuse mechanism for end users who otherwise would have resorted to "copy and paste". The paper illustrates how visual analogies avoid some of the problems intrinsic to object oriented programming by eliminating the pitfall of over-generalization and the need to create non concrete programming abstractions.