4 research outputs found
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Temporal programming in grid-oriented visual programming languages
Graduation date: 2001Specifying varying speeds and temporal relationships is necessary when programming\ud
graphical animations, but support for temporal programming has usually been done by adding\ud
new language features to a Visual Programming Language (VPL), and these features must be\ud
mastered over and above the other aspects of the VPL. However, some researchers have\ud
believed that time should be able to be treated like just another dimension. In this thesis, we\ud
explore whether temporal programming can indeed be done using exactly the same devices as\ud
in spatial programming in grid-oriented VPLs. Toward this end, we provide a continuum of\ud
models aimed at this goal and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Also, we identify\ud
core issues that help illuminate the essence of the problem
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Reasoning about many-to-many requirement relationships in spreadsheet grids
Graduation date: 2003Traditionally, research into end-user programming has focused on how to\ud
make programming more accessible to end users. However, few researchers\ud
have considered providing end users with devices to help improve the\ud
reliability of the programs they create. To help improve the reliability of\ud
spreadsheets created by end users, we are working to allow users to\ud
communicate the purpose and other underlying information about their\ud
spreadsheets using a form of requirement specifications we call "guards."\ud
Guards were initially designed for individual cells but, for large spreadsheets,\ud
with replicated/shared formulas across groups of rows or columns, guards can\ud
only be practical if users can enter them across these groups of rows or\ud
columns. The problem is, this introduces many-to-many relationships, at the\ud
intersection of rows and columns with guards. It is not clear how the system\ud
should reason and communicate about many-to-many relationships in a way\ud
that will make sense to end users. In this thesis, we present the human-centric\ud
design rationale for our approach to how the system should reason about such\ud
many-to-many relationships. The design decisions are presented with their\ud
reasons gleaned from two design-time models--Cognitive Dimensions and\ud
Attention Investment--and from the users themselves in a small think-aloud\ud
study
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FAR : an end-user language to support cottage e-services
Graduation date: 2002E-commerce has begun to evolve beyond simple web pages to more\ud
sophisticated ways of conducting e-business transactions, such as through electronic\ud
advertising, negotiation, and delivery. However, to participate in these advances\ud
requires the skills of professional programmers, and end-user owners of small\ud
businesses often cannot justify this expense. In this thesis, we present FAR, an end-user\ud
language to offer and deliver e-services. The novel aspects of FAR are its support\ud
of small e-services and its multiparadigm approach to combining ideas from\ud
spreadsheets and rule-based programming with drag-and-drop web page layout\ud
devices
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Guarantees and requirements : implementation and complexity analysis of a new model of types for declarative visual programming languages
Graduation date: 2000Djang et al. [1998] introduced a new model of types for declarative visual programming languages (VPLs). Implicit static typing is used in their type model, in order to eliminate the programming mechanisms associated with type declarations, provide immediate visual feedback with respect to type errors and guarantee type safe programs. Their type model also evaluates types on a level of granularity that is finer than in previous approaches to types. Instead of evaluating types on the basis of abstract names, their model determines a set of operations that an object guarantees and compares this set to the set of operations this object is required to support. If the set of required operations is a subset of the set of guaranteed operations, then the object is considered type safe. This granularity provides their model with the ability to support inheritance without introducing explicit type declarations and to communicate type errors to users without requiring the user to understand a large set of terminology. These features of their model attempt to provide VPL users with more powerful programming capabilities without the introduction of a high learning curve.\ud
In this thesis, an implementation of the Djang et al.'s model of types is presented. Data structures and algorithms are developed that conform to the axioms prescribed by Djang et al. The space and time complexity analyses for our data structures and algorithms are examined. Our implementation provides new insights into the cost and performance of the Djang et al.'s type model