The general goal of VPLs is to make programming more accessible to novices and to support programmers at three different levels Visual programming environments provide graphical or iconic elements which can be manipulated by users in an interactive way according to some specific spatial grammar for program construction. VPLs may be further classified, according to the type and extent of visual expression used, into icon-based languages, form-based languages, and diagram languages. For example, many VPLs (known as diagrammatic programming) are based on the idea of 'boxes and arrows', where boxes or other screen objects are treated as entities, connected by arrows, lines or arcs which represent relations. A VPL allows programming with visual expressions, spatial arrangements of text and graphic symbols, used either as elements of syntax or secondary notation. In computing, a visual programming language ( visual programming system, VPL, or, VPS) or block coding is a programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually.

A simple custom block in the Snap! visual programming language, which is based on Scratch, calculating the sum of all numbers between a and b

Visual basic programming languages