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Editing by example

Editor: Susan L. Graham Author:

Robert P. NixAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), Volume 7, Issue 4

Pages 600 - 621

https://doi.org/10.1145/4472.4476

Published: 01 October 1985 Publication History

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Abstract

An editing by example system is an automatic program synthesis facility embedded in a text editor that can be used to solve repetitive text editing problems. The user provides the editor with a few examples of a text transformation. The system analyzes the examples and generalizes them into a program that can perform the transformation to the rest of the user's text. This paper presents an overview of the design, analysis, and implementation of a practical editing by example system. It studies the problem of synthesizing a text processing program that generalizes the transformation implicitly described by a small number of input/output examples. A class of text processing programs called gap programs is defined and the problems associated with synthesizing them from examples are examined, leading to an efficient heuristic that provably synthesizes a gap program from examples of its input/output behavior. The editing by example system derived from this analysis has been embedded in a production text editor. By developing an editing by example system that solves a useful class of text processing problems, this work demonstrates that program synthesis is feasible in the domain of text editing.

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Cited By

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Mousawi SZilles S(2024)Positive Characteristic Sets for Relational Pattern LanguagesSOFSEM 2024: Theory and Practice of Computer Science10.1007/978-3-031-52113-3_28(398-412)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2024
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Arnold OGolchert SRennert MJantke K(2023)Interactive Collaborative Learning with Explainable Artificial IntelligenceLearning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_2(13-24)Online publication date: 22-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_2
Ni WSunshine JLe VGulwani SBarik T(2021)reCode : A Lightweight Find-and-Replace Interaction in the IDE for Transforming Code by ExampleThe 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3472749.3474748(258-269)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3472749.3474748
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Index Terms

Editing by example
1. Applied computing
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interactive systems and tools

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Reviews

Reviewer: Hans J. Schneider

An editing by example system is an automatic program synthesis facility, embedded in a text editor, that can be used to solve repetitive text editing problems. The system analyzes a few examples the user provides it with and generalizes them into a program transforming the rest of the text. In order to get a running system, the author focused his attention on gap pattern replacement. A gap pattern is a sequence of strings separated by gaps, i.e., formal parameters. This approach has the advantage that a program can be synthesized after the user has provided two or three examples. After presenting some typical text transformations, the author outlines the theoretical background of his algorithm without proofs and discusses its performance. Finally, he mentions some heuristics used to improve the realized system. A weakness of the gap pattern approach is that many text processing problems can't be expressed in this way and decision problems are NP-hard. This is a well-written paper. Its primary contribution is in demonstrating the feasibility of program synthesis in text processing without hiding the limits of the approach. The paper is worth reading by anyone interested in augmenting editor facilities.

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 01 October 1985

Published in TOPLAS Volume 7, Issue 4

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Mousawi SZilles S(2024)Positive Characteristic Sets for Relational Pattern LanguagesSOFSEM 2024: Theory and Practice of Computer Science10.1007/978-3-031-52113-3_28(398-412)Online publication date: 19-Feb-2024
Arnold OGolchert SRennert MJantke K(2023)Interactive Collaborative Learning with Explainable Artificial IntelligenceLearning in the Age of Digital and Green Transition10.1007/978-3-031-26876-2_2(13-24)Online publication date: 22-Mar-2023
Ni WSunshine JLe VGulwani SBarik T(2021)reCode : A Lightweight Find-and-Replace Interaction in the IDE for Transforming Code by ExampleThe 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3472749.3474748(258-269)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2021
Zhang LHe WMorkved OZhao VLittman MLu SUr B(2020)Trace2TAPProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/34118384:3(1-26)Online publication date: 4-Sep-2020
Gao ZMazadi ZMeloche RSimon HZilles S(2017)Distinguishing pattern languages with membership examplesInformation and Computation10.1016/j.ic.2017.08.003256(348-371)Online publication date: Oct-2017
Singh RGulwani S(2016)Transforming spreadsheet data types using examplesACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/2914770.283766851:1(343-356)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2016
Singh RGulwani SBodik RMajumdar R(2016)Transforming spreadsheet data types using examplesProceedings of the 43rd Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages10.1145/2837614.2837668(343-356)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2016
Bodik RMajumdar R(2016)Proceedings of the 43rd Annual ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT Symposium on Principles of Programming LanguagesundefinedOnline publication date: 11-Jan-2016
Mazadi ZGao ZZilles S(2014)Distinguishing Pattern Languages with Membership ExamplesProceedings of the 8th International Conference on Language and Automata Theory and Applications - Volume 837010.1007/978-3-319-04921-2_43(528-540)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2014
Yessenov KTulsiani SMenon AMiller RGulwani SLampson BKalai AIzadi SQuigley APoupyrev IIgarashi T(2013)A colorful approach to text processing by exampleProceedings of the 26th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology10.1145/2501988.2502040(495-504)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2013
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