Editing Visual programming language (section)

== General-purpose visual languages ==

[[File:Ringlang shot10.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Ring (programming language)|Ring]] Virtual Machine (VM) implementation using the [[PWCT]] visual programming language]]
Most of the VPLs are designed for [[education]] or [[Domain-specific language|domain-specific]] usage where the target users are novice programmers. But there are some research projects try to provide a [[General-purpose language|general-purpose]] visual programming language that can be used by mainstream programmers in any [[software]] project instead of using textual programming languages (like [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], etc.).

For example, research projects such as Envision <ref>Asenov, D. and Muller, P., 2014, July. Envision: A fast and flexible visual code editor with fluid interactions (overview). In 2014 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC) (pp. 9-12). IEEE.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pm.inf.ethz.ch/research/envision.html | title=Envision }}</ref> and [[PWCT]]<ref>Fayed, M.S., Al-Qurishi, M., Alamri, A., Hossain, M.A. and Al-Daraiseh, A.A., 2020. PWCT: a novel general-purpose visual programming language in support of pervasive application development. CCF Transactions on Pervasive Computing and Interaction, 2, pp.164-177.</ref> are designed to achieve this goal. 
It's common for a VPL to be developed using a textual programming language. Developing general-purpose VPLs allows the other way around. For example, a new textual programming language [[Compiler]] and [[Virtual machine|Virtual Machine]] have been developed and maintained using visual programming for many years.<ref>Ayouni, M., 2020. Beginning Ring programming (Vol. 978, No. 1, pp. 4842-5832). Apress.</ref> This approach increased the abstraction level, thereby hiding unnecessary details. <ref>Fayed, Mahmoud Samir, and Yousef A. Alohali. "Ring: A Lightweight and Versatile Cross-Platform Dynamic Programming Language Developed Using Visual Programming." Electronics 13, no. 23 (2024): 4627.</ref> This increased level of abstraction enables developers to concentrate on the program's overall structure and functionality instead of being entangled in the details of code syntax. <ref>Green, T.; Blackwell, A. Cognitive dimensions of information artefacts: A tutorial. In Proceedings of the BCS HCI Conference, Sheffield, UK, 1–4 August 1998; Volume 98, pp. 1–75</ref><ref>Green, T.R.; Blandford, A.E.; Church, L.; Roast, C.R.; Clarke, S. Cognitive dimensions: Achievements, new directions, and open questions. J. Vis. Lang. Comput. 2006, 17, 328–365</ref>