Program sketching

Sketching is a synthesis methodology that aims to bridge the gap between a programmer’s high-level insights about a problem and the computer’s ability to manage low-level details. In sketching, the programmer uses a partial program, a sketch, to describe the desired implementation strategy, and leaves the low-level details of the implementation to an automated synthesis procedure. In order to generate an implementation from the programmer provided sketch, the synthesizer uses counterexample-guided inductive synthesis (CEGIS). Inductive synthesis refers to the process of generating candidate implementations from concrete examples of correct or incorrect behavior. CEGIS combines a SAT-based inductive synthesizer with an automated validation procedure, a bounded model-checker, that checks whether the candidate implementation produced by inductive synthesis is indeed correct and to produce new counterexamples. The result is a synthesis procedure that is able to handle complex problems from a variety of domains including ciphers, scientific programs, and even concurrent data-structures

Empirical Research Plan: Effects of Sketching on Program Comprehension

Sketching is an important means of communication in software engineering practice. Yet, there is little research investigating the use of sketches. We want to contribute a better understanding of sketching, in particular its use during program comprehension. We propose a controlled experiment to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of program comprehension with the support of sketches as well as what sketches are used in what way.Comment: 5 pages, 0 figures, Proc. International Conference on Agile Software Development (XP'16). Volume 251 of the book series Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (LNBIP). Springer, 201

OverSketch: Approximate Matrix Multiplication for the Cloud

We propose OverSketch, an approximate algorithm for distributed matrix multiplication in serverless computing. OverSketch leverages ideas from matrix sketching and high-performance computing to enable cost-efficient multiplication that is resilient to faults and straggling nodes pervasive in low-cost serverless architectures. We establish statistical guarantees on the accuracy of OverSketch and empirically validate our results by solving a large-scale linear program using interior-point methods and demonstrate a 34% reduction in compute time on AWS Lambda.Comment: Published in Proc. IEEE Big Data 2018. Updated version provides details of distributed sketching and highlights other advantages of OverSketc

Enumerative aspects of the Gross-Siebert program

We present enumerative aspects of the Gross-Siebert program in this introductory survey. After sketching the program's main themes and goals, we review the basic definitions and results of logarithmic and tropical geometry. We give examples and a proof for counting algebraic curves via tropical curves. To illustrate an application of tropical geometry and the Gross-Siebert program to mirror symmetry, we discuss the mirror symmetry of the projective plane.Comment: A version of these notes will appear as a chapter in an upcoming Fields Institute volume. 81 page

Stereoscopic Sketchpad: 3D Digital Ink

--Context-- This project looked at the development of a stereoscopic 3D environment in which a user is able to draw freely in all three dimensions. The main focus was on the storage and manipulation of the ‘digital ink’ with which the user draws. For a drawing and sketching package to be effective it must not only have an easy to use user interface, it must be able to handle all input data quickly and efficiently so that the user is able to focus fully on their drawing. --Background-- When it comes to sketching in three dimensions the majority of applications currently available rely on vector based drawing methods. This is primarily because the applications are designed to take a users two dimensional input and transform this into a three dimensional model. Having the sketch represented as vectors makes it simpler for the program to act upon its geometry and thus convert it to a model. There are a number of methods to achieve this aim including Gesture Based Modelling, Reconstruction and Blobby Inflation. Other vector based applications focus on the creation of curves allowing the user to draw within or on existing 3D models. They also allow the user to create wire frame type models. These stroke based applications bring the user closer to traditional sketching rather than the more structured modelling methods detailed. While at present the field is inundated with vector based applications mainly focused upon sketch-based modelling there are significantly less voxel based applications. The majority of these applications focus on the deformation and sculpting of voxmaps, almost the opposite of drawing and sketching, and the creation of three dimensional voxmaps from standard two dimensional pixmaps. How to actually sketch freely within a scene represented by a voxmap has rarely been explored. This comes as a surprise when so many of the standard 2D drawing programs in use today are pixel based. --Method-- As part of this project a simple three dimensional drawing program was designed and implemented using C and C++. This tool is known as Sketch3D and was created using a Model View Controller (MVC) architecture. Due to the modular nature of Sketch3Ds system architecture it is possible to plug a range of different data structures into the program to represent the ink in a variety of ways. A series of data structures have been implemented and were tested for efficiency. These structures were a simple list, a 3D array, and an octree. They have been tested for: the time it takes to insert or remove points from the structure; how easy it is to manipulate points once they are stored; and also how the number of points stored effects the draw and rendering times. One of the key issues brought up by this project was devising a means by which a user is able to draw in three dimensions while using only two dimensional input devices. The method settled upon and implemented involves using the mouse or a digital pen to sketch as one would in a standard 2D drawing package but also linking the up and down keyboard keys to the current depth. This allows the user to move in and out of the scene as they draw. A couple of user interface tools were also developed to assist the user. A 3D cursor was implemented and also a toggle, which when on, highlights all of the points intersecting the depth plane on which the cursor currently resides. These tools allow the user to see exactly where they are drawing in relation to previously drawn lines. --Results-- The tests conducted on the data structures clearly revealed that the octree was the most effective data structure. While not the most efficient in every area, it manages to avoid the major pitfalls of the other structures. The list was extremely quick to render and draw to the screen but suffered severely when it comes to finding and manipulating points already stored. In contrast the three dimensional array was able to erase or manipulate points effectively while the draw time rendered the structure effectively useless, taking huge amounts of time to draw each frame. The focus of this research was on how a 3D sketching package would go about storing and accessing the digital ink. This is just a basis for further research in this area and many issues touched upon in this paper will require a more in depth analysis. The primary area of this future research would be the creation of an effective user interface and the introduction of regular sketching package features such as the saving and loading of images

Sketching space

In this paper, we present a sketch modelling system which we call Stilton. The program resembles a desktop VRML browser, allowing a user to navigate a three-dimensional model in a perspective projection, or panoramic photographs, which the program maps onto the scene as a `floor' and `walls'. We place an imaginary two-dimensional drawing plane in front of the user, and any geometric information that user sketches onto this plane may be reconstructed to form solid objects through an optimization process. We show how the system can be used to reconstruct geometry from panoramic images, or to add new objects to an existing model. While panoramic imaging can greatly assist with some aspects of site familiarization and qualitative assessment of a site, without the addition of some foreground geometry they offer only limited utility in a design context. Therefore, we suggest that the system may be of use in `just-in-time' CAD recovery of complex environments, such as shop floors, or construction sites, by recovering objects through sketched overlays, where other methods such as automatic line-retrieval may be impossible. The result of using the system in this manner is the `sketching of space' - sketching out a volume around the user - and once the geometry has been recovered, the designer is free to quickly sketch design ideas into the newly constructed context, or analyze the space around them. Although end-user trials have not, as yet, been undertaken we believe that this implementation may afford a user-interface that is both accessible and robust, and that the rapid growth of pen-computing devices will further stimulate activity in this area