CAREER: Direct Manipulation Programming Systems

计算机编程是一个越来越重要和强大的工具，但两个现实抑制了更大的影响。首先，编程由一个“编辑-运行-查看”的工作流程组成，这减慢了创作过程的速度;只有在后期阶段，结果才能可视化，此时程序员必须返回到文本编辑以进行后续更改。此外，方案编制仅限于专家。理想情况下，用户在编程过程中将得到交互式图形用户界面（GUI）的帮助，类似于那些可用于字处理，电子表格和图形设计等领域的界面。本研究的目标是开发理论和实践基础，将编程的表达能力与直接操作GUI的易用性相结合。这项研究的智力价值是回答有关计算机编程的几个开放性问题：（1）如何与程序的输出交互来确定用户对程序的预期修改？(2)如何使用与程序源代码的交互来确定用户对程序的预期的、更高级别的修改？(3)用户界面如何将通用编程语言的表现力与直接操作系统的直观工作流程相结合？该项目更广泛的意义和重要性是将这些问题的答案纳入创新的软件技术中，这些技术将（a）免费向公众发布，供专家和非专家用户使用，（B）支持大学课程活动，帮助将计算机科学与视觉艺术等其他学科联系起来，以及（c）支持初中和高中的课程活动，帮助提高对编程和计算思维的兴趣。该项目融合并推进了程序合成、半自动重构和人机交互方面的技术。三个主要的活动进行：（1）开发程序综合算法，监测以前的执行程序，并允许用户指定程序修改直接操纵程序输出。(2)开发程序合成算法，允许用户通过视觉和结构化操作程序文本来指定程序修改。(3)设计半自动编程系统，使专家和非专家用户能够创建各种数字对象，与现有的编程语言相比，基于文本的编辑较少，与现有的直接操作系统相比，基于鼠标的编辑较少。

Computer programming is an increasingly vital and powerful tool, but two realities inhibit even greater impact. First, programming consists of an "Edit-Run-View" workflow that slows the pace of the creative process; only in latter stages can the results be visualized, at which point the programmer must return to text-editing to make subsequent changes. Furthermore, programming is limited to experts. Ideally, users would be aided in the programming process by interactive graphical user interfaces (GUIs), akin to those available for domains such as word processing, spreadsheets, and graphic design. The goal of this research is to develop theoretical and practical foundations to integrate the expressive power of programming with the ease-of-use of direct manipulation GUIs. The intellectual merits of this research are to answer several open questions about computer programming: (1) How can interactions with the output of a program be used to determine the user's intended modifications to the program? (2) How can interactions with the source code of a program be used to determine the user's intended, higher-level modifications to the program? (3) How can user interfaces integrate the expressiveness of general-purpose programming languages with the intuitive workflow of direct manipulation systems? The project's broader significance and importance are to incorporate answers to these questions into innovative software technology that will (a) be released freely to the public for use by expert and non-expert users, (b) support university-level curricular activities that help bridge computer science with other disciplines such as visual arts, and (c) support middle- and high-school curricular activities that help promote interest in programming and computational thinking.The project blends and advances techniques in program synthesis, semi-automated refactoring, and human-computer interaction. Three primary activities are pursued: (1) Develop program synthesis algorithms that monitor the previous execution of a program and allow users to specify program modifications by directly manipulating program output. (2) Develop program synthesis algorithms that allow users to specify program modifications by visually and structurally manipulating program text. (3) Design semi-automated programming systems that enable expert and non-expert users to create a variety of digital objects with less text-based editing than in existing programming languages and less mouse-based editing than in existing direct manipulation systems.