View source for Automatic programming

The use of computers to produce computer programs (cf. [[Program|Program]]) automatically from some initial description which is closer to the original formulation of the problem. The meaning of  "automatic programming"  has shifted in time, reflecting the general evolution of human-computer communication and of programming methods. Originally, automatic programming consisted in leaving it to the computer to produce a translation into machine code of the description of an algorithm for solving some problem, expressed in some [[Algorithmic language|algorithmic language]]. Subsequently, automatic programming was understood to include a method for the directed synthesis of an algorithm from a compact problem description, restricted to some fixed class of problems. At present (the 1970s) the concept of automatic programming is being extended to cover a comprehensive procedure for the synthesis of an algorithm in the framework of a much wider language for formulating problems, not limited to a specific class. Such a synthesis entails a correctness proof for the algorithm and employs formal approaches such as various models for the semantics of natural languages, predicate calculus and theorem-proving techniques.



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<table><TR><TD valign="top">[a1]</TD> <TD valign="top">  R. Balzer,   "A 15-year perspective on automatic programming"  ''IEEE Trans. Software Engineering'' , '''11''' :  11  (1985)  pp. 1257–1267  (Special issue on artificial intelligence and software engineering, Guest Ed.: J. Mostow)</TD></TR></table>