Automatically generating visual syntax-directed editors

Arefi, F.; Hughes, Charles E.; Workman, David

doi:10.1145/77481.77487

Cited by 29 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…There are many techniques in human computer interaction research that can reduce the learning barrier for first time users -for example structured editing [40,3] can help novices to work with a new syntax, but can be cumbersome for more experienced users [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Proof Exercises Using MathsTiles and Isabelle/HOL in an Intelligent Book

Billingsley

Robinson

2007

J Autom Reasoning

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Abstract.The Intelligent Book project aims to improve online education by designing materials that can model the subject matter they teach, in the manner of a Reactive Learning Environment. In this paper, we investigate using an automated proof assistant, particularly Isabelle/HOL, as the model supporting first year undergraduate exercises in which students write proofs in number theory. Automated proof assistants are generally considered to be difficult for novices to learn. We examine whether, by providing a very specialised interface, it is possible to build something that is usable enough to be of educational value. To ensure students cannot "game the system" the exercise avoids tactic-choosing interaction styles, but asks the student to write out the proof. Proofs are written using MathsTiles: composable tiles that resemble written mathematics. Unlike traditional syntax-directed editors, MathsTiles allow students to keep many answer fragments on the canvas at the same time, and do not constrain the order in which an answer is written. Also, the tile syntax does not need to match the underlying Isar syntax exactly, and different tiles can be used for different questions. The exercises take place within the context of an Intelligent Book. We performed a user study and qualitative analysis of the system. Some users were able to complete proofs with much less training than is usual for the automated proof assistant itself, but there remain significant usability issues to overcome.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Proof Exercises Using MathsTiles and Isabelle/HOL in an Intelligent Book

Billingsley

Robinson

2007

J Autom Reasoning

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“…In this paper, we present an incremental tree editor, DW-tree, for dynamic hierarchical display of trees. Graphs that are trees are found in many applications including Software Engineering and Program Design, which is the genesis of this Dynamic Workbench DW-tree software [5,1,4]. DW-tree is an interactive editor; it allows users to interact with the drawing, changing nodes and subtrees.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Incremental Editor for Dynamic Hierarchical Drawing of Trees

Workman

Bernard

Pothoven

2004

Computational Science - ICCS 2004

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Abstract. We present an incremental tree editor based on algorithms for manipulating shape functions. The tree layout is hierarchical, left-to-right. Nodes of variable size and shape are supported. The paper presents algorithms for basic tree editing operations, including cut and paste. The layout algorithm for positioning child-subtrees rooted at a given parent is incrementally recomputed with each edit operation; it attempts to conserve the total display area allocated to child-subtrees while preserving the user's mental map. The runtime and space efficiency is good as a result of exploiting a specially designed Shape abstraction for encoding and manipulating the geometric boundaries of subtrees as monotonic step functions to determine their best placement. All tree operations, including loading, saving trees to files, and incremental cut and paste, are worst case O(N) in time, but typically cut and paste are O(log(N) 2 ), where N is the number of nodes.

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“…• A graph-based, abstract and flexible program structure and semantics representation [1,2]. • Textual and graphical view support, as visual programming is typically useful for high-level detail while text is typically useful for low-level detail [9,11,13].…”

Section: Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Program graph components are elements (graph nodes) or relationships between components (labelled graph edges) and both can have named attribute values. As this representation is graph-based, it can represent visual as well as textual languages [1,2]. A base view is used to group program graphs that comprise a shared, canonical representation of a program.…”

Section: Conceptual Foundationsmentioning

confidence: 99%