CONVERSATIONAL PROGRAMMING

• US 20110185343A1
• Filed: 01/24/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agentsheets, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Agentsheets, Inc.
• Inventors: Repenning, Alexander
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,914 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/436 Semantic checking

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing rich semantic feedback to programmers by executing programs, or parts of programs, in data contexts relevant to the programmer are provided. According to one embodiment, a method is provided for communicating semantic information to a programmer. A conversational programming agent of a programming environment receives (i) information regarding multiple programming building blocks and (ii) information indicative of a current situation relating to the programming building blocks. The conversational programming agent evaluates the programming building blocks based on the current situation. Then, the conversational programming agent provides semantic feedback regarding the programming building blocks to the programmer based on results of the evaluation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a conversational programming agent of a programming environment, (i) information regarding a plurality of programming building blocks and (ii) information indicative of a current situation relating to the plurality of programming building blocks;

evaluating, by the conversational programming agent, the plurality of programming building blocks based on the current situation;

providing, by the conversational programming agent, semantic feedback regarding the plurality of programming building blocks to an end user based on the evaluating; and

wherein the conversational programming agent is implemented in one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media of one or more computer systems, the one or more computer-readable media having instructions tangibly embodied therein that are executable by the one or more processors.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the semantic feedback comprises annotating one or more of the plurality of programming building blocks.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the semantic feedback comprises colored annotations relating to evaluation of Boolean conditions associated with the plurality of programming building blocks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include operational programming building blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include latent programming building blocks.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the current situation includes data describing a collection of agents instantiated by an operational program.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include operational programming building blocks of the operational program associated with a selected agent of the collection of agents.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying a set of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of one or more computer systems, cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving (i) information regarding a plurality of programming building blocks and (ii) information indicative of a current situation relating to the plurality of programming building blocks;

evaluating the plurality of programming building blocks based on the current situation; and

providing semantic feedback regarding the plurality of programming building blocks to an end user based on the evaluating.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the semantic feedback comprises annotating one or more of the plurality of programming building blocks.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the semantic feedback comprises colored annotations relating to evaluation of Boolean conditions associated with the plurality of programming building blocks.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include operational programming building blocks.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include latent programming building blocks.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the current situation includes data describing a collection of agents instantiated by an operational program.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of programming building blocks include operational programming building blocks of the operational program associated with a selected agent of the collection of agents.