The assistant approach to automatic programming

Summary form only given. Current research efforts in automatic and semiautomatic program synthesis, including transformational approaches, deductive synthesis, very-high-level languages, and programming by example, are surveyed. The assistant approach to the problem is covered. Whereas other approaches aim for full automation of the programming process and usually end up with a system which requires some manual guidance, the aim of this approach is to create an intelligent programming environment which should carry some of the burden of the software development process. The assistant takes care of the more mundane and tedious parts of the design, which should be the easiest to automate. This allows the designer to concentrate on the global design decisions. Ongoing research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science is examined