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January 2007 Anything You Can Do, I Can Do MetaContinued from page 10 By Scott Rosenberg
Intentional Software's work provokes two main lines of criticism. Some theoretically minded skeptics say Simonyi's goal of capturing computer users' intentions is implausible. "How do you represent intent?" asks computer scientist Jaron Lanier. "As soon as we know how the brain stores information, maybe we can represent intent. To me it just seems like a fantasy." Another argument, common among programmers, is more practical. Many programmers love their text-based editors and distrust tools that distance them from raw code. As for graphical programming languages like Visual Basic and the integrated development environments (IDEs) that automate routine programming tasks, they regard them with condescension: such tools, they say, impose their own ways of doing things, constrain creativity, and keep programmers from the code that, sooner or later, they must confront. (To understand why programmers are so wary, see " The Law of Leaky Abstractions ") Skeptical programmers look at Intentional Software and see the prospect of just another IDE. To those who think that real programmers write text, intentional programming is neither very original nor much wanted. But mostly, there's surprisingly little discussion of Intentional Software in the Internet's teeming coder forums. In part, that's because so few have seen its software. Intentional's work has proceeded with some secrecy. When he started Intentional Software, Simonyi partnered with a University of British Columbia professor named Gregor Kiczales. Simonyi admired Kiczales's work on aspect-oriented programming--a way of organizing and modifying code according to "cross-cutting concerns" that resembles intentional programming. Kiczales, another veteran of PARC, has spent his career working on ways to "make the code look like the design." Kiczales saw joining Simonyi as a chance to further that end. But Kiczales trusted open-source development, where Simonyi did not. The Microsoft-style closed-shop approach simply didn't feel "organic" to Kiczales. "I would have done it in Java," he says. "The first release would have been in six months." The disagreement was friendly but irreconcilable, both men say, and before long, Kiczales had left. For now, sheltered by Simonyi's wealth, Intentional Software has no target date or shipping deadline. But one of its two main customers claims to be close to deploying Intentional tools. Capgemini--a Paris-based international IT services and consulting firm that serves large enterprises and whose CTO, Andy Mulholland, is an acquaintance of Simonyi's--began working with Intentional last March and is considering using Intentional's system for projects in the European pensions business. The field's "very complex rules, intertwined with complex business domain structure," make Simonyi's approach look attractive, says Henk Kolk, Capgemini's financial-services technology officer, who is leading the firm's work with Intentional. |
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IBM's Symphony for the Office Worker
09/28/2007
Comments
rajuch on 02/07/2007 at 11:38 AM
1
How does it solve the software updates problem? What would happen, if they need to change some features six month from the installation? Can we put the bench back in the machine to refine the bench, or do we need to start over and pay for full new bench? Many online applications are being updated every other month.
If one needs to build a computer table or wooden cabinet, can he use that bench-making machine? Or does he need to build a new machine for each kind of products? I am not joking. You would agree, if you read the following.
We already invented such machines for building online-GUI-applications. Greatly appreciate your feedback, what you think about our online GUI application making machine. Please review brief overview to our application machine:
http://cbsdf.com/technologies/software-irony.htm
Each ‘Component Factory’ in the left side of the Figure#1 acts as a knob, to refine each part (i.e. a loosely coupled component/AC) in the application (shown right side). Please review the following WebPages, which show that this process builds perfect ‘application machine’ with simple to operate knobs to refine each part. Please review summary at the end to understand why it cost only a fraction to refine the application:
http://cbsdf.com/ps_blog/Minimum-couplings.htm
http://cbsdf.com/ps_blog/super-distribution.htm
P.S: Of course, one must use our highly-flexible online-GUI-API to build the online GUI components. You may see interactive GUI Components, which are built using SVG. We will be building the GUI Classes for XAML/Vista in the future.
http://cbsdf.com/technologies/demo-links/Demo-SVGS/misc-charts.html
More sample links at: http://cbsdf.com/technologies/demo-links/demo-links.htm
One may build his own custom GUI Classes, for example, to build multi-player online games or near real-time modeling of Air-traffic, as explained at:
http://cbsdf.com/Newbies/Flight-main.htm
http://cbsdf.com/misc_docs/online-apps-rock.htm
Best Regards,
Raju
sriramv.iyer on 02/13/2007 at 4:59 AM
1
But this article did rekindle my interest in DSLs. (I use python and not lisp, though)
rubs74 on 02/22/2007 at 5:27 PM
1
Model Driven Architecture also adds a new level of abstracction to software development and I guess that takes the base idea of Intentional Programming as well. There are already tools that work on production. Here there's a tool based on MDA that really allows you to think more about the bussiness logic and less about the complexities of building it, just take a look http://www.care-t.com/
JEfromCanada on 03/09/2007 at 3:10 PM
1
bushka on 03/14/2007 at 5:55 PM
1
oscarbhaskar on 06/13/2007 at 10:11 AM
1
The question now is how do we implement the concept? How do we capture the "Intention"?
I think we are about to see a new dimension in the way software is developed.
enterprise on 06/30/2007 at 2:45 PM
1
By Christmas.
We will make sure the writers of this excellent article know in good time.
In the meantime, if you want to be involved with the fun, get in touch on gedymail@gmail.com
GD
Corbier on 12/25/2007 at 2:02 PM
4
For a quick glance at what a language definition file might look like, check out:
www.ucalc.com/lisp.txt (Lisp)
www.ucalc.com/forth.txt (Forth)
The download includes more files like this, which you can load up into the generic interpreter, at which point it becomes an interpreter for the language you just loaded. (The supplied interpreter demonstrates just one possible kind of interface. You can create your own fancy interface to interpret such code).
uCalc LB is no longer in the idea stage. An actual fully working beta implementation can be downloaded.
I am the author of uCalc Language Builder (as well as uCalc Fast Math Parser), and I am looking for early adopters of the uCalc LB technology. An interactive tutorial that comes with the download can walk you trough the various concepts. Other forms of documentation are also included, as well as an interactive interpreter.
--
Daniel Corbier
www.ucalc.com