Methodology of
Programming Systems
Joel Jakubovic, Tomas Petricek, Jonathan Edwards
tomas@tomasp.net |
@tomaspetricek
Programming Languages
We know how to study this!
Programming Systems
But how do we study this?
Theory bias
Establishing computer science as a legitimate theoretical discipline was (...) an essential component in the professionalization agenda
Within the status hierarchy of the university (...) theory ranked higher than practice, and was therefore desirable for its own sake.
It provided a means of distinguishing the competent professional from
the mere technician.
Communities
Communities looking at programming systems
Programming experience and liveness (PX, LIVE)
Interaction and user experience (UIST, VL/HCC)
Formal models of programming systems (POPL)
History and philosophy of programming (HaPoP)
Methodologies
Different practices for evaluation
We prove safety of our tiny formal model...
We implemented a system and it runs fast.
Study shows users can complete tasks 10% faster...
We describe this interesting past influential system.
Here is a new system we built. Behold!
The missing component
Capture essential characteristics of system design!
How the system makes you think
How the system makes you interact
Possible answers
Evaluating programming systems design
Formalism
done right?
Program as a sequence of interactions with the environment
More realistic, but narrow technical focus
Videos and screencasts?
Walkthrough showing concrete use case of working with a system
How to generalize to get reusable knowledge?
Interactive essays?
Guided interaction, allowing the reader to explore independently
Interaction focus systems, but what makes it rigorous?
Complementary science?
Recover interesting ideas about past programming systems
Is a limited simulation accurate enough?
