May 20th, 2005, 10:41 AM
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Programming Guru
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3,467
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MIT's Metaphor For Software Programming
This is the tool I was referring to in one of my responses to the "New Language Ideas" thread... Check it out and let me know what you guys think...
http://nwc.compliancepipeline.com/sh...0911755&pgno=2
Quote:
Software coding and programming won't disappear from the IT industry any time soon, but they certainly could become simpler. One step in that direction is a natural-language type project under way at the MIT Media Laboratory.
The newly designed intelligent user interface, called Metafor, visualizes a person's typed stories as software code. As the person types, the system continuously updates a version of the narrative into code that will then have to be executed. While it can't yet convert English to a fully specified code, the researchers say, Metafor can make programming easier and more intuitive.
Research assistant Hugo Liu started working on the project with professor Henry Lieberman a year and a half ago at MIT. "Metafor is a first pass" at what they're trying to do, Liu says. Previous natural-language programming used conventions, key words, and language structures that were difficult to develop, he says. "We want to remove that and move to plain English language" programming.
While no commercial applications are planned yet, Liu says there are many potential uses. For example, he sees Metafor as a useful "bridge" between business teams—who need particular requirements and specs—and software engineers who can map those English-written specs into precise code. Liu also hopes that these easy-to-use interfaces "can empower more people to program," even if it's their smart household appliances, such as alarm clocks and VCRs. "It's a very good way to learn programming," he says. The researchers are also testing applications in education and gaming. "Humans won't go out of the loop for programming," he says, but Metafor could help demystify programming for nonprogrammers.
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"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."
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