Your Wish is My Command: Programming By Example (Interactive Technologies) - Softcover

Lieberman, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1558606882 ISBN 13: 9781558606883

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann, 2001

Synopsis

As user interface designers, software developers, and yes-as users, we all know the frustration that comes with using "one size fits all" software from off the shelf. Repeating the same commands over and over again, putting up with an unfriendly graphical interface, being unable to program a new application that you thought of yourself-these are all common complaints. The inflexibility of today's computer interfaces makes many people feel like they are slaves to their computers. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Why can't technology give us more "custom-fitting" software?

On the horizon is a new technology that promises to give ordinary users the power to create and modify their own programs. Programming by example (PBE) is a technique in which a software agent records a user's behavior in an interactive graphical interface, then automatically writes a program that will perform that behavior for the user.

Your Wish is My Command: Programming by Example takes a broad look at this new technology. In these nineteen chapters, programming experts describe implemented systems showing that PBE can work in a wide variety of application fields. They include the following:

The renowned authors and their editor believe that PBE will some day make it possible for interfaces to effectively say to the user, "Your wish is my command!"

* Text and graphical editing
* Web browsing
* Computer-aided design
* Teaching programming to children
* Programming computer games
* Geographical information systems

About this title

About the Author

Henry Lieberman has been a Research Scientist at the MIT Media Laboratory since 1987. From 1972 until 1987, he was a researcher at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence and the human interface. Dr. Lieberman began his career with Seymour Papert and the group behind the educational language Logo. A member of the Software Agents group, he holds a doctoral-equivalent degree from the University of Paris-VI and has published over fifty papers on a wide variety of research topics.

From the Back Cover

As user interface designers, software developers, and yes-as users, we all know the frustration that comes with using "one size fits all" software from off the shelf. Repeating the same commands over and over again, putting up with an unfriendly graphical interface, being unable to program a new application that you thought of yourself-these are all common complaints. The inflexibility of today's computer interfaces makes many people feel like they are slaves to their computers. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Why can't technology give us more "custom-fitting" software?

On the horizon is a new technology that promises to give ordinary users the power to create and modify their own programs. Programming by example (PBE) is a technique in which a software agent records a user's behavior in an interactive graphical interface, then automatically writes a program that will perform that behavior for the user.

Your Wish is My Command: Programming by Example takes a broad look at this new technology. In these nineteen chapters, programming experts describe implemented systems showing that PBE can work in a wide variety of application fields. They include the following:

• Text and graphical editing
  
• Web browsing
  
• Computer-aided design
  
• Teaching programming to children
  
• Programming computer games
  
• Geographical information systems

The renowned authors and their editor believe that PBE will some day make it possible for interfaces to effectively say to the user, "Your wish is my command!"

Reviews

Programming by example (PBE) and programming by demonstration (PBD) represent a departure from traditional programming methodology. Why should someone need to learn a complicated syntax to train a computer to perform an action? The idea is to instruct the computer to complete the action and let tools create the necessary syntax. This book discusses several different approaches in a range of industries where the technology is applicable and currently in use. Although the book is mostly theoretical in nature, that is probably the intention of PBE anyway to remove the complexity from the creation of computer applications. Recommended for university libraries.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Programming by example (PBE) and programming by demonstration (PBD) represent a departure from traditional programming methodology. Why should someone need to learn a complicated syntax to train a computer to perform an action? The idea is to instruct the computer to complete the action and let tools create the necessary syntax. This book discusses several different approaches in a range of industries where the technology is applicable and currently in use. Although the book is mostly theoretical in nature, that is probably the intention of PBE anyway to remove the complexity from the creation of computer applications. Recommended for university libraries.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1558606882
• ISBN 13: 9781558606883
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 440