Multimedia workshop: exploring the benefits of a visual scripting language

Multimedia programming environments are intuitive and easy to use for even the non-programmer. However, the textual scripting languages of these environments are difficult to use and require programming experience to code significant functionality. We propose a visual scripting language to help bridge the usability gap between the multimedia programming environment and its scripting language by cognitively simplifying the scripting task. Visual programming languages can be easier and faster to program in than textual languages, and visual code can be easier to understand. We explore our hypothesis by designing a multimedia programming environment with a visual scripting language.