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Forms/3

Language type:

V - Visual or graphical

Description:

Forms/3 is an interpreted visual programming language with an expression-oriented interface and mostly declarative semantics. It is an academic research language.
Elements of a Forms/3 form are called cells. Cells can hold powerful functions. The syntax for cell contents is fairly simple, but includes fair support for arithmetic and general sequential programming, as well as various graphical operations. Every cell has a current value. Data types supported in Forms/3 are strings, integers, reals, and booleans. Cell expressions can directly manipulate the appearance and other characteristics of graphical objects in the Forms/3 workspace.
Like many other visual languages, Forms/3 embodies a notion of time; it can be compared to a visual simulation system in that respect. Forms/3 allows time to be run both forward and backwards; it also supports semantics for reacting to asynchronous events.
One interpreter for Forms/3 exists, it is written in Common Lisp and runs on Unix workstations. The system is available at no charge from the authors.

Origin:

Burnett and Ambler, 1991.

See Also:

Lisp    Logo    Show-and-Tell    Cocoa    SeeDo   

Remarks:

Forms/3 is the successor to Forms/2 (89), also by M. Burnett and A. Ambler, which was a successor to the spreadsheet-like Forms (86) language by A. Ambler. Forms/3 is a research language, used to study visual programming paradigms, for comparison between visual and traditional programming methods, and for study of reversible program execution ('time travel').
Languages like Forms/3 differ from commercial so-called 'visual' language like Visual Basic in the sense that in true visual languages, the actual program structure and module relationships are created graphically. Commercial 'visual' languages are more like language-integrated GUI builders, although some convergence with academic visual programming is beginning to occur.

Links:

Guided Tour of Forms/3

Date:

Last updated 6/12/99

Sample code:

This is an example program from the Forms/3 home page:

Descriptions in this dictionary are ©1997-99 Neal Ziring. Some examples copyright of their respective authors. Some technologies and languages are trademarked. Permission to copy descriptions is granted as long as authorship credit is preserved.

Comments on this dictionary, corrections and suggestions, are all welcome. Please use email, the address is ziring@home.com