A Language Based on Two Relations between Symbols

Abstract

We present a language with all the power of abstraction and the simplicity of two fundamental relations: substitution and categorization. With a graphic symbol representing each one of them, we created a playful visual programming environment aimed at teaching with high expressive power. This environment includes tools to inspect the program execution and a console to try visual expressions. This is achieved without resorting to text, since the symbols are user-defined drawings. To address complex problems, the language offers another set of tools to define text-based programs. Here we show a functional prototype of our rule-based, general-purpose declarative programming language.