The programming language XL is our implementation of
relational growth grammars. XL is built on top of
the programming language Java: This combines the advantages of the
rule-based paradigm with the strength of Java,
including the rich set of existing Java libraries.
Examples
XL extends Java in various aspects. To give you an impression, some examples
are listed below. For more examples and details, have a look at the
gallery or the
publication list.
- Rules
- Rules are specified within a transformation statement.
The snowflake curve (see L-systems)
can be generated by the two rules
Axiom ==> F(1) RU(120) F(1) RU(120) F(1);
F(x) ==> F(x/3) RU(-60) F(x/3) RU(120) F(x/3) RU(-60) F(x/3);
Behind the scenes, Axiom, F and RU
correspond to Java classes of that name. The bound variable x
corresponds to a field of class F.
- Expressions with multiple values
-
XL supports expressions that have multiple values successively. E.g., the
expression (* F *) returns all existing objects of class
F. Operators like sum perform calculations
on those expressions. To get the total length of
all F's having a diameter greater than one, just write
sum ((* f:F, (f.diameter > 1) *).length)
Especially the graph query expressions of the form
(* ... *) enable you to specify local or global interactions
in a concise and expressive way.
Applications
You can use XL as modelling language for your own specific data model by
implementing XL's graph model interface.
This represents your data model as a graph on which XL programming statements can
act.
However, it is easier to start with existing applications of XL.
Currently, this website provides two such applications:
- Our modelling platform GroIMP uses XL as modelling language.
-
XL4C4D allows XL to operate on the scene graph of CINEMA 4D.
How to Get XL
XL is distributed as part of the modelling platform
GroIMP. However, it can be used
independently of GroIMP.