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Abstract

A workstation that employs methods to construct computer programs through use of visual graphical representations. Computer programs are illustrated as visual road maps of the intended sequence of actions. Each operational entity in a program graph on the screen is represented as an elemental 'atomic' unit, called a 'Softron'. The Softron is a multidimensional, graphical 'atom' of programming information which has four modes of operation, termed 'layers'. The four layers are Normal, where the basic functionally of the application resides; Initialization/Reset, responsible both for the startup values of important variables and for their values at strategic checkpoints; Error, which handles conditions outside design limits; and Input/Output, which performs human input/output and other I/O tasks. Softrons reside in very general form in the workstation's library, and are optimized by the process of specialization. Softrons may be grouped to form new Softrons by a process called Logical Zoom (TM). Logically Zoomed Softrons may combine with other Softrons to form a computer program of arbitrary complexity.

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First Claim