Extensions to C for interface programming

Abstract

Extending the facilities available to a programmer can be more productive, flexible, and appealing when done via additions to the syntax and semantics of the programming language, than when done by way of procedure packages. Database programming, for example, is now routinely done using query languages that are embedded in programming languages. Interaction dialog programming can be greatly simplified by use of a specification language. Dialog languages are not often integrated with a programming language. In this report, a set of extensions to the C language are presented. These extensions provide a rule-based sublanguage for describing interaction dia-logs. A translator and interpreter have been constructed for the extended (C + Dialog) language, and used in a research project investigating gestural interfaces.