The Lime Music Editor: a Diagram Editor Involving Complex Transformations

Lime is a music editor, oriented to the production of printed music. A user manipulates the information content of the music notation, while viewing the physical appearance of the notation. To implement this, Lime must perform a complex translation from an abstract musical source representation to a graphical product. Techniques are discussed for providing automation without loss of customizability, for implementing WYSIWYG editing, for supporting multiple products (e.g. orchestral score and parts), and for providing good response time despite a slow translator. Similar design issues are encountered by editors for other types of diagrams, such as schematics, chemical formulas, and maps.