Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 3D virtual environments can be used as therapy tools in patients with autism spectrum
disorders (ASDs); however, the development of such tools is time-consuming.
A 3D virtual environment development platform for such tools has been developed
specifically for the South African context, because of the language and culture
sensitivity of these therapy tools.
The 3D virtual environment development platform has a Lua scripting interface
for specifying logic in the virtual environments. Lua is a textual programming
language, and presents a challenge to ASDs therapists’ ability to create therapy
tools without engaging an expert programmer.
The aim of this research was to investigate the design and implementation of a
visual programming environment to support non-expert programmers in scripting
within the 3D virtual environment development platform.
Various visual program representation techniques, reported in the literature, were
examined to determine their appropriateness for adoption in our design. A visual
programming language based on the “building-block” approach was considered the
most suitable. The research resulted in the development of a visual script editor
(VSE), based on an open source framework called the OpenBlocks library.
The VSE successfully alleviated the syntax burden that textual programming languages
place on non-expert programmers. The fitness of purpose of our VSE was
exemplified in a sample 3D virtual environment that was scripted using the VSE.
Despite the success, we argue that the applicability of the “building-block” approach
is limited to domain-specific programming languages due to the absence of
visual expressions for defining user-defined types, and for specifying hierarchy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/17939 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Msiska, Mwawi Fred |
| Contributors | Van Zijl, L., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Science. Dept. of Mathematical Sciences. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 115 p. : ill. |
| Rights | Stellebosch University |
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