SHF: Small: Collaborative Research: Semantic Foundations for Hole-Driven Development

今天的软件开发人员花费大量的时间来编辑那些缺少部分或包含各种暂时错误的程序。传统的语言定义对具有这样的“漏洞”的程序保持沉默。因此，当前的开发工具采用的是临时的策略，无法在开发人员最需要的时候提供关于程序的精确、准确的反馈。为了直接解决程序漏洞的问题，该项目的新颖之处在于提供（1）一个有原则的数学描述程序漏洞，以及（2）一个开源开发环境，称为Hazel，从底层设计，以支持漏洞驱动的开发。该项目的影响是：（1）Hazel最初将针对在STEM领域工作的CS教师、学生和领域科学家，所有这些人都将在整个开发过程中受益于更精确的实时反馈;以及（2）理论基础和原型将为研究和工业中的其他软件开发环境的设计提供信息，很像编程语言理论在过去几十年中对编程语言和编译器设计产生了重大影响。通过将编程语言理论的严格方法论应用于编程环境设计中的问题，该项目将为语义学家和工具设计者开辟大量新的研究方向。该项目有几个相关的具体目标，支持交互式软件开发的实践和（目前尚未开发的）理论。这些目标通过一个共同的技术设备连接起来：类型孔。具体来说，该项目将开发（1）类型化漏洞的静态语义，（2）带有类型化漏洞的实时编程的动态语义，（3）自动插入类型化漏洞的结构化编辑操作的语义，以及（4）一种机制，它使用类型化的孔，通过直接操纵程序编辑器中的图形用户界面来支持编程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

Software developers today spend much of their time editing programs that are missing pieces or that contain transient errors of various sorts. Conventional language definitions are silent about programs with "holes" like these. As a result, current development tools resort to ad hoc heuristics that fail to provide precise, accurate feedback about the program exactly when the developer needs it most. To tackle the problem of programs with holes directly, the project's novelties are to provide (1) a principled mathematical characterization of programs with holes, and (2) an open source development environment called Hazel designed from the ground up to support hole-driven development. The project's impacts are that (1) Hazel will initially target CS instructors, students, and domain scientists working in STEM fields, all of whom stand to benefit from more precise, live feedback throughout the development process; and (2) the theoretical foundations and prototype will inform the design of other software development environments both in research and industry, much like programming language theory has had a major impact on programming language and compiler design in the past decades.By applying the rigorous methodology of programming language theory to problems in programming environment design, the project will open up substantial new research directions for semanticists and tool designers alike. This project has several related specific aims that support the practice and (currently under-developed) theory of interactive software development. These aims are connected by a common technical device: Typed Holes. Specifically, the project will develop (1) a static semantics for typed holes, (2) a dynamic semantics for live programming with typed holes, (3) a semantics for structured edit actions that insert typed holes automatically, and (4) a mechanism that uses typed holes to support programming by direct manipulation of graphical user interfaces inside the program editor.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.