The Evolution of End User Programming

Google Tech Talk February 1, 2010 ABSTRACT Presented by Allen Cypher, IBM Research Almaden. The popularity of the Web has changed the world of End User Programming. Our research systems can now be built in a web browser that people use in their daily life, semantic information is broadly available, and our users are more experienced and they share their work with others. After twenty-five years of trying to infer the user's intent, Allen will compare early and contemporary end user programming systems to see what progress we have made, and what opportunities we now have for widespread success. Allen Cypher began building systems to automate repetitive activities in 1984. His Eager system was one of the first intelligent agents. In 1993, he edited "Watch What I Do: Programming by Demonstration", which collected the work of earlier pioneers and of the active researchers at the time. In the 90's, he co-developed a visual language called Stagecast Creator that enabled children to create their own games and simulations and publish them on the Web. His current work with CoScripter is aimed at bringing end user programming to the Web.