Smith, D. C., Cypher, A. & Spohrer, J. (1994), `KidSim: Programming Agents without a Programming Language', Communications of the ACM 37(7), 54--67.  Home/Search   Document Not in Database   Summary   Related Articles   Check

....Diligent s questions, and review Diligent s knowledge. 3. INTEGRATING DEMONSTRATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AND DIRECT SPECIFICATION Diligent builds on ideas from a variety of prior systems, but these prior systems have placed a greater burden on instructors. Some ask a large number of questions [31, 29, 10, 24], some require a large number of demonstrations [32, 33, 17] and some require an initial domain theory [6, 7, 20, 13, 25, 14, 19] Diligent minimizes the need for demonstrations, questions, and an initial domain theory through a novel combination of programming by demonstration, autonomous ....

D. C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer. KIDSIM: Programming agents without a programming language. CACM, 94(7):55--67, 1994.

....had little or no prior experience in conventional programming. Our interest is in ordinary end users, not scientists or others with significant technical training. One of the end user programming problems is, How can ordinary people, who are not professional programmers, program computers [Smith et al. 1994]. The aim of end user programming languages is to provide users without a formal programming background a way to do some programming. The idea is to make the power of computers fully accessible to users so that they are not limited to the capabilities of the software they are provided. 10 There ....

....rule based programming, is an example of PBD. Cocoa records the user s actions and converts them into an executable program. The user actions in Cocoa are entering the rules with before and after parts graphically. This makes Cocoa a PBD system. Cocoa allows children to build symbolic simulations [Smith et al. 1994]. It is an object oriented programming environment, where users create characters and give them rules that determine their behavior in the simulation [Heger et al. 1998] It has been tested on kids and they enjoyed working even after the class [Heger et al..1998] Cocoa enabled them to program ....

D.C. Smith, A.Cypher and J.Spohrer, KidSim: programming agents without a programming language, Communications of the ACM 37, 55-67.

....concludes the paper with directions for further work. The elements of our approach: visual programming, component based development, a graphical front end to Unix tools, data flow visual languages, and pipe and filter architectures have been extensively studied. See for example the references [2, 14, 1, 15, 6] (discussing visual programming and providing examples of specific approaches) 16, 17, 18, 3] discussing graphical Unix tool front ends) 19, 20, 21, 7, 22] discussing component based development) 17, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27] discussing visual data flow approaches) and [28, 29] discussing ....

D. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer. Kidsim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):54--67, July 1994.

....We think this approach fits the fish tank metaphor fairly well or at least better than explicitly writing code to control fish. Instructible agents or systems learn through a conversational process between the user and the system in the form of examples, hints, and questions (e.g. [9, 10, 11]) The goal of instructible agents is to discover (a) what the user is doing and (b) when the user wants this action performed within a certain task model; for example, graphical editor layout [12] or text recognition [13] The approach taken here differs significantly in that fish are trained as ....

D. C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer, "Kidsim: Programming agents without a programming language," Communications of the ACM, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 54-- 67, 1994.

....This may be particularly true for the VPLs that are aimed at end users, whose software creations are not usually managed by anyone other than themselves. In fact, some recent commercial end user VPLs such as AgentSheets [13] and Stagecast (previously known by the names Cocoa and KidSim) [19] already provide just such repositories. This discussion of reuse will be confined to the use of an existing code component in place of creating a new component. In general, a component is any artifact of the software process, but this article concentrates solely on code components. The term ....

D. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer, Kidsim: Programming Agents without a Programming Language. Communications of the ACM Vol.37, No.7, (July 1994) 54-67.

....01] and [Boles 99] a hamster programmed in Java. Brusilovsky 97] offers a review of some more toy worlds, most of them closely related to the idea of Karel, the robot. Some visual programming environments, not all directly related to teaching, can be found in [Dann 00] Fenton 89] Kahn 95] Smith 94] Most of these environments offer many more options and possibilities than Kara does, and some of them are not expressly designed to be used for an introduction to programming. Kara, on the other hand, was designed to be as simple as possible, to offer no more possibilities and options than ....

Smith, D. C., Cypher, A., and Spohrer, J. (1994) KidSim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery 37 (7), 54 - 67.

....Scaleable Integration of Educational Software Roschelle, Kaput, Stroup and Kahn Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 98 (6) www jime.open.ac.uk 98 6] 5 have been invented. Logo (which preceded Smalltalk) is the most famous and long lived (Papert, 1980) More current examples are KidSim (Smith, Cypher, and Spohrer, 1994; now known as Cocoa 2 ] and AgentSheets (Repenning and Sumner, 1995) which provide a graphical if then rules rather than linguistic codes in an effort to make programming more comprehensible to children. Yet while Kays vision of computers as personal dynamic media for creative expression, ....

Smith, D.C., Cypher, A. and Spohrer, J. (1994). KidSim: Programming Agents without a Programming Language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7), 55-67.

....Pygmalion [31] Pict [9] and Pictorial Janus [15] Many Computer Aided Software Engineering tools also support graphical descriptions of system components [34] Several researchers are investigating graphical means for expressing programs within children s programming environments. KidSim [33] (now renamed Cocoa [32] is a radical departure from Logo based educational programming paradigms. It supports animated simulations that are described using visually programmed graphical rewrite rules. Graphical rewrite rules show a before and after snapshot of a portion of the simulation. While ....

....but procedures defined within the iconic programming environment are limited to only two parameters (a design trade o# intended to save screen real estate) Expressions, such as : size : height#5, are supported in the iconic environment through Leogo s calculator. Similar to KidSim s calculator [33], the calculator allows users to enter expressions which include any of the local parameters declared for procedures within the current scope level. When the user clicks in the conditional regions of the IF expression, the calculator pops up. Expressions can also be used for the bounds of REPEAT ....

DC Smith, A Cypher, and J Spohrer. Kidsim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):55--67, 1994.

....a set of rules that embody the user s preferences for handling a wide variety of situations. KEYWORDS agents, end user programming, intelligent systems INTRODUCTION Software agents are the focus of much interest in the popular press and are a hot research topic in humancomputer interaction [3,5,7,8,9,10,11,13], artificial intelligence [17] and distributed computing [16] HCI research on agents can be distinguished by its user centered approach. The focus is on how agents can empower users to work more effectively in the vast, rich, ever changing world of electronic communication and information. One ....

....trust suggestions from some agents more than from others. Programming by Demonstration (PBD) In programming by demonstration (PBD) 4] a user puts a system into record mode , then continues to operate the system in the ordinary way, and the system records the actions in an executable program [13]. The prototypical PBD systems operate in domains that have a natural graphical representation. KidSim[5,13] is a good example. Kids create simulations in which characters move around in a two dimensional world. They create rules by using a graphical editor to depict changes of state; that is, ....

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Smith, D.C., Cypher, A., Spohrer, J. KIDSIM: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language, CACM, 37(7):55-67, July 1994.

.... block for beginners because it is not familiar and has no real world counterpart (du Boulay, 1989; du Boulay, O Shea, Monk, 1989) Usability could be improved by selecting a different model of computation based on a concrete real world system that is familiar to the audience (Mayer, 1989; Smith, Cypher, Spohrer, 1994). This permits users to infer how the programming system will work by consulting their existing knowledge and expectations about the modeled system. There are also several language constructs or features that have been identified as especially troublesome. For example, looping control structures ....

....(McQuire Eastman, 1995) A somewhat controversial topic is whether to use a textual or a visual language. Many people argue that programming is difficult because it requires the precise use of a textual language, and that a system that eliminates language will be inherently easier to use (e.g. Smith et al. 1994). However, numerous researchers have demonstrated situations where textual languages outperform visual languages (e.g. Green Petre, 1992) It seems that visual languages might be better for small tasks, but often break down for large tasks. The good news is that it is not always difficult to ....

Smith, D. C., Cypher, A., & Spohrer, J. (1994). KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7), 54-67.

....scripting language are single threaded so that they are not easily applicable for the implementation of parallel programs. Visual scripting languages are typically better suitable for parallel or pseudo parallel systems implemen tation. Examples are TAYLOR III for manufacturing systems, Kidsim [2] and ToonTalk [3] for kids programming, the Agentsheets [4] languages for domain oriented learning environments, and Labview [5] for electronic systems. Some of them give ideal means for the scripting of domain oriented animations. With some extend, Pictorial Janus [3] as a completely visual ....

D.C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer, \KIDSIM: programming agents without a programming language", Communications of the ACM, vol. Vol. 37, No. 7, pp. 55-67, July 1994.

....to make Logo more diagrammatic, but Boxer concentrated on issues of context and environment within which text could be organized. Two recent languages are particularly well suited to simple games and simulations. AgentSheets (Repenning Sumner 1995) and Cocoa (originally described as KidSim in Smith, Cypher Spohrer 1994) allow children to manipulate graphical elements directly, and define their behaviour within a graphical grid in terms of graphical rewrite rules and condition action rules. A number of commercial visual programming products have used the presentational techniques of video games to provide ....

Smith, D.C., Cypher, A. & Spohrer, J. (1994). KIDSIM: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7), 55-67.

....Boulder CO 80309 0430 (303) 492 1349, ralex cs.colorado.edu (303) 492 1503, ambach cs.colorado.edu Fax: 303) 492 2844 http: www.cs.colorado.edu ralex http: www.cs. colorado.edu ambach Abstract based on graphical rewrite rules, such as Agentsheets [2] BitPict [3] ChemTrains [4] KidSim [5] and Vampire [6] are effective end user programming approaches allowing users to define behavior by editing before and after pictures. These rule based, visual programming environments provide ease of use but are limited in their expressiveness. The question raised is whether it is possible to ....

Smith, D. C., A. Cypher and J. Spohrer, "KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, pp. 54-68, 1994.

.... Unfortunately, designing simulations and implementing them with traditional programming languages is a hard task [Rader, Brand, Lewis 1997] In the past we have explored the use of new end user programming paradigms such as Graphical Rewrite Rules [Repenning 1994; Repenning 1995; Smith 1996; Smith, Cypher, Spohrer 1994], analogies [Craig 1997; Perrone Repenning 1998] and Tactile Programming [Repenning Ambach 1996] to significantly lower the threshold of programming. While end user programming is a highly effective means to build tailored simulations, there is a need for a more general framework to use and ....

Smith, D. C., Cypher, A., & Spohrer, J. (1994). KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language.

....data definition and data manipulation and do not rely on the rule oriented programming paradigm for all purposes. Most rule based visual programming languages are untyped languages, i.e. processed data is only implicitly defined by the set of their rules. An example for these languages is KidSim [21]. Even those languages which combine rules with class diagrams (see [9] do not check at compile time whether rules produce inconsistent data configurations or not. In contrast to rule based languages there are some visual dataflow languages which have a static type concept. Such a static type ....

D. C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer. Kidsim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):54--67, 1994.

....graph rewriting languages are AMBIT G [22] and PLAN2D [28] Postponing the presentation of graph rewriting (transformation) languages to Section 3. 6, our history of visual rule based programming languages (VRPLs) starts some years later on with systems like BITPICT [42] ChemTrains [6] KidSim [100], Vampire [68] and PictorialJanus [58] All of them, except PictorialJanus, belong to the category of icon rewriting languages. Their underlying knowledge base is not a set of facts with a superimposed graphical representation, but a two dimensional picture, usually called workspace or grid, with ....

....as well as LHS and RHS of rules are simple pixel grids; a rule matches an area of the workspace which is identical to 3.2. VISUAL LANGUAGES AND ENVIRONMENTS 115 its LHS after geometric reflection and rotation operations. The system does not support modeling of higher level entities. ffl KidSim [100] uses different types of icons instead of a single type of pixel as grid entries. Its matching process does not involve geometric reflection and rotation operations, but supports abstraction by means of subclassing. A more general icon in a rule s LHS matches any more specific icon on the ....

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D. C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer. KidSim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):54--67, 1994.

....very different diagram notations by graphs and operating on these graphs, many different flavors of visual (programming) languages can be described and implemented. Obvious examples are Pictorial Janus [12] whose agents with ports directly correspond to our notion of typed edges) or KidSim [24]. 7 Implementation The programming language outlined in this paper is in a rather concrete phase of its design. Its implementation is only at a very early stage. Here we just outline the architecture of the implementation. See Figure 16 for a diagram of the system structure. 12 compiled ....

D. C. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer. KidSim: Programming agents without a programming language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):54--67, 1994.

....description and taking advantage of object oriented concepts. Following the tendency towards userfriendly, easy to learn and easy to use software, simulation support tools have been recently developed that are based on graphical user interfaces, visual programming and programming by demonstration [Smit94]. On the other hand, a new category of object oriented simulation program generators is recently emerging. SmartSim [Ulge90] SmarterSim [Ulge89] using Smalltalk 80, and GASPE [Simo89] belong in this category. The ARGUS project and its results so far NTUA s research project ARGUS aims at ....

Smith D. C., Cypher A. and Spohrer J. C., "KidSim: Programming Agents without a Programming Language", Communications of the ACM, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 55-67, 1994.

....paradigms call for new metaphors and the technological gap between the turtle and modern graphic and multimedia programs seems to make less powerful the original Logo metaphor. To address this problem various researchers have suggested different, good solutions. We can take, for example, Kidsim [Smith 1994], Multilogo [MultiLogo 1990] StarLogo [StarLogo 1996] and MicroWorlds [MicroWorlds] to quote a few. We propose to enhance standard Logo by introducing modern program paradigms. In particular we extend Logo with object oriented programming and multi agent programming features. We also introduce ....

Smith, D.C., Cypher, A. & Spohrer, J. (1994). KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7), July 1994, pp. 54 - 67.

....of achieving this is by means of graphical environments [Ozde91] Simulation support tools have been recently developed that do not use a programming or description language but are based on principles such as graphical user interface, visual programming and programming by demonstration. KidSim [Smit94] and Playground [Fent89] although hardly adequate for real world simulation problems, take advantage of such methodologies to make simulation programming easy enough to be practiced by children. On the other hand, the advantages of using object oriented concepts in the development of simulation ....

D.C. Smith, A. Cypher and J.C. Spohrer, "KidSim: programming agents without a programming language", Communications of the ACM, vol. 37, no. 7, pp. 55-- 67, 1994.

....The output of AlgoBlock programs is displayed on a computer screen, creating a gulf of visualisation between the program representation (the blocks) and the output domain. AlgoBlock slightly eases this gulf by illuminating a light on each block as its associated statement is executed. StageCast [16] and Agentsheets [14] are designed to let users program graphical simulations. They minimise the gulf of expression by using graphical rewrite rules based on before and after conditions. The gulf of representation is reduced by showing rules associated with each graphical agent in the same ....

DC Smith, A Cypher, and J Spohrer. KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language. Communications of the ACM, 37(7):55--67, 1994.

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Smith, D. C., Cypher, A. & Spohrer, J. (1994), `KidSim: Programming Agents without a Programming Language', Communications of the ACM 37(7), 54--67.

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D. Smith, A. Cypher, and J. Spohrer., Kidsim: Programming agents without a programming language, Communications of the ACM 37 (1994), no. 7, 54--67.

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. 57. D.C. Smith, A. Cypher and J. Spohrer, Kidsim: Programming Agents without a Programming language, Communication of the ACM , 37, 5567

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Smith, D. C., Cypher, A., and Spohrer, J. 1994. KidSim: Programming Agents Without a Programming Language. CACM, Vol.37, pp.54-68.

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