%T Visual Process\-Oriented Programming for Robotics
%A  Jonathan Simpson,  Christian L. Jacobsen
%E Peter H. Welch,  S. Stepney,  F.A.C Polack,  Frederick R. M. Barnes,  Alistair A. McEwan,  G. S. Stiles,  Jan F. Broenink,  Adam T. Sampson
%B Communicating Process Architectures 2008
%X When teaching concurrency, using a <i>process\-oriented
   language</i>,
it is often introduced through a visual
   representation of programs
in the form of <i>process network
   diagrams</i>. These diagrams allow
the design of and
   abstract reasoning about programs, consisting
   of
concurrently executing communicating processes, without
   needing any
syntactic knowledge of the eventual
   implementation language. Process
network diagrams are
   usually drawn on paper or with general\-purpose
diagramming
   software, meaning the program must be implemented
   as
syntactically correct program code before it can be
   run.

This paper presents <i>POPed</i>, an introductory
   parallel
programming tool leveraging process network
   diagrams as a visual
language for the creation of
   process\-oriented programs. Using only
visual layout and
   connection of pre\-created components, the user
can explore
   process orientation without knowledge of the
   underlying
programming language, enabling a <q>processes
   first</q> approach to
parallel programming. POPed has been
   targeted specifically at basic
robotic control, to provide a
   context in which introductory parallel
programming can be
   naturally motivated.