56 research outputs found
Convo: What does conversational programming need? An exploration of machine learning interface design
Vast improvements in natural language understanding and speech recognition
have paved the way for conversational interaction with computers. While
conversational agents have often been used for short goal-oriented dialog, we
know little about agents for developing computer programs. To explore the
utility of natural language for programming, we conducted a study (=45)
comparing different input methods to a conversational programming system we
developed. Participants completed novice and advanced tasks using voice-based,
text-based, and voice-or-text-based systems. We found that users appreciated
aspects of each system (e.g., voice-input efficiency, text-input precision) and
that novice users were more optimistic about programming using voice-input than
advanced users. Our results show that future conversational programming tools
should be tailored to users' programming experience and allow users to choose
their preferred input mode. To reduce cognitive load, future interfaces can
incorporate visualizations and possess custom natural language understanding
and speech recognition models for programming.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to VL/HCC 2020, for associated user
study video: https://youtu.be/TC5P3OO5ex
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