Aims & Scope

Following the merger of Computer Languages, Systems and Structures with the Journal of Visual Languages and Computing in 2018, we are excited to present the Journal of Computer Languages, a single publication which covers all areas of computer languages.

The Journal of Computer Languages (COLA) welcomes papers on all aspects of the design, implementation, and use of computer languages (specification, modelling, programming; textual or visual) and human-centric computing, from theory to practice. Most papers describe original technical research, but the journal also welcome empirical studies and survey articles.

Current research areas for the Journal of Computer Languages include:

    Block-based languages
    Cognitive, perceptive and motoric systems and models
    Compilers and interpreters
    Computational thinking
    Design and development of concurrent, distributed, parallel, quantum and sequential languages
    Domain-specific languages
    End-user development
    Generative approaches, meta-programming, meta-modelling
    Human aspects and psychology of designing languages
    Information visualization
    Interaction models and languages
    Location-based data and processes
    Language design and implementation
    Language-based security
    Language evolution, integration, composition, and coordination
    Language product lines
    Language workbenches, meta-languages and development frameworks
    Languages, models, and frameworks for visual analytics
    Languages for large-scale scientific computing
    Languages for software specification and verification
    Libraries, run-time environments and language ecosystems
    Modelling and programming languages
    Modularity and extensibility of language specifications and programming
    Parallel/distributed/neural computing and representations for visual information processing
    Pattern languages
    Pictorial systems and languages
    Program analysis and optimization
    Program comprehension
    Program visualization and animation
    Programming environments and tools
    Programming paradigms (agent-oriented, aspect-oriented, intermittent, etc.)
    Scientific visualization
    Scripting languages
    Semantics of computer languages
    Semantics-based verification
    Software language engineering
    Software visualization
    Type systems
    User interface design languages
    Visual languages and programming

Special Issue on Extended Best Papers from the Brazilian Symposium on Programming Languages
Día de Entrega: 2026-02-15

Guest editors:

Dalvan Griebler, Associate Professor
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil

Hugo Musso Gualandi, Professor
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil

Andre Murbach Maidl,
Elastic Media

Special issue information:

The Brazilian Symposium on Programming Languages (SBLP) is promoted by the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC). It constitutes a forum for researchers, students, and professionals to present and discuss ideas and innovations in the design, definition, analysis, implementation, and practical use of programming languages. SBLP's first edition was in 1996. Since 2010, it has been co-located with the Brazilian Conference on Software: Theory and Practice (CBSoft). 

The scope of the submitted papers is the following:

    Programming paradigms and styles, scripting and domain-specific languages, and support for real-time, service-oriented, multi-threaded, parallel, distributed, and quantum programming
    Program generation and transformation
    Formal semantics and theoretical foundations: denotational, operational, algebraic, and categorical
    Program analysis and verification, type systems, static analysis, and abstract interpretation
    Programming language design and implementation, programming, language environments, compilation, and interpretation techniques
    Programming languages for the blockchain technology: design and implementation of Smart Contract languages, implementation of consensus protocols, language-based security, and cryptographic primitives