Abstract:
Handling the growing complexity of software is one
of the biggest challenges for the software industry. Two common
answers to this challenge are: raising the level of abstraction (i. e.,
reducing complexity) and improving human understanding by
improving the organization of software (managing complexity).
It is our contention that if one gives developers tools with which
they can better structure their software, one can reach both
goals. Our programming language and integrated programming
environment TUBE is such a tool and is based on hypergraphs, in
their incarnation Topic Maps. Topic Maps give us powerful ways
of annotating, documenting, querying and presenting TUBE programs. It also allows us to integrate all artifacts that are part of
the system. Moreover, TUBE is a prototype-based object-oriented
language which leads to a more direct, concrete and interactive
style of programming in it, further increasing productivity.
Keywords:
Prototype-Based Programming, Programming
Language Design, Development Environments, Topic Maps,
Structure-Orientation.
