Metamodeling
frameworks for the definition and management of visual languages allow
the
implementation of visual environments based on some abstract notion of
visual
entity and of relations among them. We propose a suite of metamodels
able to
accommodate most commonly used visual paradigms, built as progressive
specialisation
of a root meta-metamodel. The concrete syntax for a particular language
can be
obtained in a semi-automatic way, by declaring the conformity of the
language
to some family of languages, specified by a metamodel. In a similar
way, the
generation of the associated semantics can take advantage of the
identification
of the variety of the semantics being expressed. According to the
associated
metamodel, one can obtain an abstract view of the semantic roles that
visual
elements can play with respect to the process being described. We
propose here
an integrated framework and interactive environment, based on a
collection of
metamodels, in which to express both syntactical characterizations of
diagrammatic sentences and their semantic interpretations. Moreover,
also the
definition of the interaction can take into account metamodel
information both
on the objects which can be manipulated and on the management of the
spatial
relations among them.
Paolo
Bottoni graduated in Physics in 1988 and
obtained his Doctoral Degree in
Computer Science in 1995. Since 1994, he has been with the Department
of
Computer Science of the University "La Sapienza" of Rome, first as a
Researcher, and since 2000 as an associate professor. His research
interests are mainly in the area of interactive
computing, and include: definition of pictorial and visual languages,
visual
simulation, formal models of visual interactive computing, agent-based
computing, multimedia applications for creative processes and fruition
of
cultural heritage. On these topics, he has published 120 scientific
papers in
international journals, contributed volumes and conference proceedings.