Snippets: Support for Drag-and-Drop Programming in the Redwood Environment

Brian T. Westphal (University of Nevada, USA)

Frederick C. Harris, Jr. (University of Nevada, USA)

Sergiu M. Dascalu (University of Nevada, USA)

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the Redwood programming environment and details one of its key features, snippets. Through snippets, developers can both make use of a variety of predefined programming constructs and build their own reusable program components. Language-independent, snippets are descriptions of program parts that can be as simple as an assignment statement or as complex as a sophisticated optimization algorithm. In Redwood, snippets also provide support for a distinguishing facility of visual environments: direct manipulation via drag-and-drop. An example of working with snippets, including snippet definition, visualization, customization, and mapping to code is also presented in the paper.

Keywords: Redwood, design tool, drag-and-drop, programming environment, snippets, software development, visual programming

Categories: D.1.5, D.1.7, D.2.10, D.2.2, D.2.6, H.5.2