ITR: End-User Software Engineering

目的是提高终端用户编程语言，特别是电子表格语言产生的软件的可靠性。这种方法是将软件工程问题作为一个整体来解决，方法是以递增的方式彼此交互并与用户交互。例如，系统会注意到用户对她测试的样本值的反应，然后会建议有关电子表格的一般原则，鼓励用户改进或修改建议。随着电子表格的发展，系统和用户之间的这种协作将逐渐产生正式的规范。这些规格反过来可以被反馈以增强可靠性--通过自动建议适当的测试值、帮助定位故障以及确保继续与规格保持一致。这项研究涉及三个方面：开发用户-系统协作的交互机制，为协作的系统部分开发算法，以及进行实验以评估有效性。这是第一次尝试将基本的软件工程原理应用于最终用户编程。由于终端用户编写的程序和电子表格的使用非常普遍，而且它们缺乏可靠性是普遍存在的，可靠性的提高将影响潜在的大量商业和个人计算机用户。

AbstractThe objective is to improve the reliability of software produced byend-user programming languages in general, and by spreadsheetlanguages in particular. The approach is to address softwareengineering issues as an integrated whole in ways that incrementallyinteract with each other and with the user. For example, the systemwill notice the user's reactions to sample values she tests, and willthen suggest general principles about the spreadsheet, encouraging theuser to refine or modify the suggestions. This collaboration betweenthe system and user will incrementally generate formal specificationsas the spreadsheet evolves. These specifications can in turn be fedback to enhance reliability -- by automatically suggesting appropriatetest values, by helping locate faults, and by ensuring continuingconsistency with the specifications. The research involves threefacets: developing an interactive mechanism for user-systemcollaboration, developing algorithms for the system's part of thecollaboration, and conducting experiments to evaluate effectiveness.This is the first research attempting to bring fundamental softwareengineering principles to bear on end-user programming. Since the useof end-user-written programs and spreadsheets is very widespread andtheir lack of reliability is pervasive, improved reliability willimpact a potentially huge number of business and personal computerusers.