Compiling the graphical functional language PROGRAPH

Abstract

The imperative style of standard programming languages is not appropriate for many modern computing tasks involving manipulation of symbols and complex structures. These applications require higher level declarative languages such as Lisp and Prolog. A brief description is given of the functional language PROGRAPH, which overcomes some of the shortcomings of Lisp by replacing the usual textual representation of programs by pictures called “prographs”. An abstract machine is defined having an architecture similar to most conventional computers, and suitable as a target machine for compiling prographs. An outline is given of an implementation in Prolog of a PROGRAPH compiler, based on this abstract machine.