HyperPascal: A Visual Language to Model Idea Space1

Programmers develop problem solutions in an abstract idea space, where they can easily visualise different views of the solution. However, conventional programs exist in sequential text space, where these different views often become inextricably tangled. We reject the text-based single-sequence structure-which many visual programming languages have heedlessly adopted-in favour of a hyperspatial environment where optimally-structured, disparate, models of a problem solution can be fashioned, where model integration is facilitated, and where hyperspatial navigation is intuitive. To explore the hyperspace, we invented HyperPascal, a general-purpose visual programming language with the capabilities of Pascal. The language exploits the power of interactive graphic interfaces, automatically generating syntactically correct programs, but constraining the programmer's actions minimally. Later developments will go beyond the procedural paradigm to explore the relationship between higher level system design paradigms (like OOD) and hyperspace.