A Link-Oriented Comparison of Hyperdocuments and Programs

There are parallels between the construction of programs and the construction of hypertexts, and in particular between the abstractions available to the application programmer and those available to the hypertext author. In this paper we look at the distinctive element of the hypertext medium, the link, and discuss its possible programming language analogs. We go on to examine programming language abstractions that could be usefully employed by hypertext authors to control the complexity of the systems which they are engaged in building. A link-oriented comparison of hyperdocuments and programs Abstract There are parallels between the construction of programs and the construction of hypertexts, and in particular between the abstractions available to the application programmer and those available to the hypertext author. In this paper we look at the distinctive element of the hypertext medium, the link, and discuss its possible programming language analogs. We go on to examine programming language abstractions that could be usefully employed by hypertext authors to control the complexity of the systems which they are engaged in building.