Software Tools: Programming Language Theory Meets Usability
Abstract
Software tools provide essential assistance to software engineering activities by supporting the comprehension, manipulation, and management of various software artifacts. Successful tools achieve this by (i) automating some analysis and/or transformation operation upon those artifacts; and (ii) doing so via an appropriate and effective user interface. Programming language theory (e.g., grammars, semantics) is often brought to bear when building software tools, but this only addresses the first part of the problem: a clear appreciation of the subtleties of human-computer interaction is also required. In this talk I will argue that the key to constructing effective software tools lies at the nexus between these two (radically different) disciplines. I will illustrate this viewpoint by discussing my Ph.D. work, which involved the development of incremental compilation techniques as a foundation technology for interactive software development environments. I will also discuss some future research directions in the area of usability issues in formal software development environments.
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