A scalable method for deductive generalization in the spreadsheet paradigm

Abstract

In this paper, we present an efficient method for automatically generalizing programs written in spreadsheet languages. The strategy is to do generalization through incremental analysis of logical relationships among concrete program entities from the perspective of a particular computational goal. The method uses deductive dataflow analysis with algebraic back-substitution rather than inference with heuristics, and there is no need for generalization-related dialog with the user. We present the algorithms and their time complexities and show that, because the algorithms perform their analyses incrementally, on only the on-screen program elements rather than on the entire program, the method is scalable. Performance data is presented to help demonstrate the scalability.

Natural programming languages and environments

“…Alice takes an extreme stance and only allows syntactically correct statements to be entered, since all editing is performed by dragging-and-dropping statements and using pop-up menus to specify parameters. A number of environments have adapted the successful spreadsheet style of end-user programming to other domains (for example, [1,4]). …”

“…1 We explore why naturalness might be better for developers and what might be more natural in programs for graphics and data processing based on initial user studies. The results were used in the design of a new language and environment called Human-centered Advances for the Novice Development of Software (HANDS).…”

SPREADSPACES: Mathematically-Intelligent Graphical Spreadsheets

“…The beauty and value of spreadspaces lie in their seamless integration of spreadsheet computations, constraint solving, and optimization, in an active and appealing graphical environment. As such, it contributes to the large research interest in spreadsheets, both with regard to their deductive extensions [1,22] and from the risk point of view [19].…”

Spatial graph grammars for graphical user interfaces

“…The spatial graph grammar formalism is suitable for semantic analysis. An effective application of the combined use of abstract and spatial specifications is the spreadsheet paradigm of visual programming languages [Burnett and Gottfried 1998;Burnett et al 2002]. The position of a spreadsheet cell can determine the semantics of the cell.…”