Verbal and Graphical Language for the AED System: A Progress Report

Abstract

For Computer-Aided Design, use of time-sharing a single language which can take either verbal or graphical form is required. This paper describes how a single language processing technique, which is in turn a special application of more general concepts concerning the step-by-step growth and processing of large structures of interrelated elements, can efficiently process both language forms in the same manner. Illustrations of the concepts involved are also drawn from the methods used in the AED-O Compiler, an efficient ALGOL-60-based compiler used in Computer-Aided Design work, which is available as a public command in the Project MAC CTSS.