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Revisiting Principles and Challenges in Natural Language Programming

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Knowledge-Based Software Engineering: 2020 (JCKBSE 2020)

Part of the book series: Learning and Analytics in Intelligent Systems ((LAIS,volume 19))

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Abstract

Automation has faced the risk of reducing its pace due to the shortage of information technology professionals. Although part of the programming demand can be addressed by simple compositions of high-level functions and data flows, non-technical professionals are still unable to build their own software given the intrinsic complexity of coding. Among other types of end-user development, natural language programming has emerged as a strong candidate to fill this gap by developing methods and tools to allow end users to program. The paper revisits some principles of evaluation of traditional programming languages and analyses the new challenges to deliver an effective end-user development platform based on aspects of natural language processing, human-computer interaction, software engineering, and programming education. We advocate that an effective end-user platform is essentially hybrid, combining features from different branches of the end-user development research, having, however, a search mechanism with semantic capabilities at its centre .

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  1. 1.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, University of Passau, Innstraße 43, 94032, Passau, Germany

    Juliano Efson Sales

  2. Institute of Computer Science, University of St. Gallen, Rosenbergstrasse 30, 9000, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Juliano Efson Sales & Siegfried Handschuh

  3. School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    André Freitas

  4. Architecture and Analytics Group, VLI Logística, Rua dos Tapuias 49, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Douglas Oliveira

  5. Institute of Digital Enabling, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Brückenstrasse 73, 3005, Bern, Switzerland

    Adamantios Koumpis

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  1. Juliano Efson Sales
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  2. André Freitas
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  3. Douglas Oliveira
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  4. Adamantios Koumpis
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  5. Siegfried Handschuh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juliano Efson Sales .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Maria Virvou

  2. Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Hiroyuki Nakagawa

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Information, University of Technology Sydney, Stonyfell, SA, Australia

    Lakhmi C. Jain

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Sales, J.E., Freitas, A., Oliveira, D., Koumpis, A., Handschuh, S. (2020). Revisiting Principles and Challenges in Natural Language Programming. In: Virvou, M., Nakagawa, H., C. Jain, L. (eds) Knowledge-Based Software Engineering: 2020. JCKBSE 2020. Learning and Analytics in Intelligent Systems, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53949-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53949-8_2

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