{"slug": "mixing-visual-and-textual-code", "title": "Mixing Visual and Textual Code", "summary": "Researchers introduced Hybrid ClojureScript, a programming language that allows developers to mix visual and textual syntax on equal footing, enabling domain-specific geometric expressions without disrupting typical workflows. The hybrid language supports composable visual extensions that preserve static reasoning and can be displayed as mini-GUIs in enhanced IDEs.", "body_md": "# Computer Science > Programming Languages\n\n[Submitted on 16 Mar 2026 (\n\n[v1](https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15855v1)), last revised 27 Mar 2026 (this version, v2)]# Title:Mixing Visual and Textual Code\n\n[View PDF](/pdf/2603.15855)\n\n[HTML (experimental)](https://arxiv.org/html/2603.15855v2)\n\nAbstract:The dominant programming languages support nothing but linear text to express domain-specific geometric ideas. What is needed are hybrid languages that allow developers to create visual syntactic constructs so that they can express their ideas with a mix of textual and visual syntax tailored to an application domain. This mix must put the two kinds of syntax on equal footing and, just as importantly, the extended language must not disrupt a programmer's typical workflow. This means that any new visual syntax should be a proper language extension that is composable with other language features. Furthermore, the extensions should also preserve static reasoning about the program. This paper presents Hybrid ClojureScript the first such hybrid programming language. Hybrid ClojureScript allows programmers to add visual interactive syntax and to embed instances of this syntax within a program's text. An enhanced hybrid IDE can then display these embedded instances as mini-GUIs that programmers interact with, while other IDEs will show a textual representation of the syntax. The paper argues the necessity of such an extensibility mechanism, demonstrates the adoptability of the design, and discusses what might be needed to use the design in other languages.\n\n## Submission history\n\nFrom: Stephen Chang [[view email](/show-email/69acf98e/2603.15855)]\n\n**Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:38:07 UTC (2,124 KB)**\n\n[[v1]](/abs/2603.15855v1)**[v2]** Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:15:52 UTC (2,123 KB)\n\n### References & Citations\n\nLoading...\n\n# Bibliographic and Citation Tools\n\nBibliographic Explorer\n\n*(*[What is the Explorer?](https://info.arxiv.org/labs/showcase.html#arxiv-bibliographic-explorer))\nConnected Papers\n\n*(*[What is Connected Papers?](https://www.connectedpapers.com/about))\nLitmaps\n\n*(*[What is Litmaps?](https://www.litmaps.co/))\nscite Smart Citations\n\n*(*[What are Smart Citations?](https://www.scite.ai/))# Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article\n\nalphaXiv\n\n*(*[What is alphaXiv?](https://alphaxiv.org/))\nCatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers\n\n*(*[What is CatalyzeX?](https://www.catalyzex.com))\nDagsHub\n\n*(*[What is DagsHub?](https://dagshub.com/))\nGotit.pub\n\n*(*[What is GotitPub?](http://gotit.pub/faq))\nHugging Face\n\n*(*[What is Huggingface?](https://huggingface.co/huggingface))\nScienceCast\n\n*(*[What is ScienceCast?](https://sciencecast.org/welcome))# Demos\n\n# Recommenders and Search Tools\n\nInfluence Flower\n\n*(*[What are Influence Flowers?](https://influencemap.cmlab.dev/))\nCORE Recommender\n\n*(*[What is CORE?](https://core.ac.uk/services/recommender))# arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators\n\narXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.\n\nBoth individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.\n\nHave an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? [ Learn more about arXivLabs](https://info.arxiv.org/labs/index.html).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mixing-visual-and-textual-code", "canonical_source": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15855", "published_at": "2026-06-25 01:11:10+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 01:13:57.584595+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools"], "entities": ["Hybrid ClojureScript", "Stephen Chang"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mixing-visual-and-textual-code", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mixing-visual-and-textual-code.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mixing-visual-and-textual-code.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/mixing-visual-and-textual-code.jsonld"}}