Structure-Based Editors and Environments

Structure-based editors are software tools that aid in the development of programmes through the knowledge and util-isation of the underlying structure inherent in all graphical and non-graphical programming languages. They have developed from the early, highly restrictive text-based programme editors to sophisticated graphical tools supporting new languages, methodologies, representations, and views. The concepts used to create these powerful tools have now been incorporated into widely available commercial systems, moving them out of the domain of experimental research vehicles and firmly into the market place. This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of structure-based editors and environments. The two world-renowned editors bring together papers from international researchers covering the underlying concepts, benefits, applications, problems and lessons learned from the on-going development of this highly complex class of tools.
This book will encourage the reader to apply the structure-editing concepts to their own field of work and will identify common links to widely used programming environments such as Visual Basic, Visual C, editors for HTML, and, most recently, editors for Java, tools which are essentially structure editors although rarely identified as such. The book is organised into four sections, each with three chapters from authors who are currently working in the field.