SPLASH 2022
Mon 5 - Sat 10 December 2022 Auckland, New Zealand

Computer programming typically requires people to describe operations in a formally specified textual language. Unfortunately, working with syntax is a significant cognitive load, making programming difficult for beginners and time-consuming for professional developers. In response to this, contemporary research often focuses on abstracting or improving the process of composing code. We believe, however, that one fundamental reason why programming is difficult is the disconnect between the symbols and metaphors used in code and the mechanics they represent. Programming languages use abstractions whose superficial similarities to natural language neither effectively help users understand programs nor enable them to work creatively. To tackle this fundamental limitation, this paper introduces a new language based on a novel programming-by-demonstration paradigm that (i) enables users to experiment and test their programs, (ii) allows describing complex operations without the need to learn any syntax, and (iii) always displays an approximation of the program state while programming a new operation. We explain the rationales behind our new approach and present our design and implementation using illustrative examples and a supplemental video recording.

Fri 9 Dec

Displayed time zone: Auckland, Wellington change

10:30 - 12:00
Future Programming Languages and Tools (1)Onward! Papers at Seminar Room G100
Chair(s): Jeremy Singer University of Glasgow
10:30
30m
Talk
Forest: Structural Code Editing with Multiple Cursors
Onward! Papers
Philippe Voinov ETH Zurich, Manuel Rigger National University of Singapore, Zhendong Su ETH Zurich
DOI
11:00
30m
Talk
Bridging the Syntax-Semantics Gap of ProgrammingIncludes Demo
Onward! Papers
Theo B. Weidmann ETH Zurich, Sverrir Thorgeirsson ETH Zurich, Zhendong Su ETH Zurich
DOI
11:30
30m
Talk
Digital Crochet: Toward a Visual Language for Pattern DescriptionVirtual
Onward! Papers
Klara Seitz University of Potsdam; Hasso Plattner Institute, Patrick Rein University of Potsdam; Hasso Plattner Institute, Jens Lincke University of Potsdam; Hasso Plattner Institute, Robert Hirschfeld University of Potsdam; Hasso Plattner Institute
DOI Pre-print