Interactive program construction

A discussion is given on the automatic construction of Prolog simulation programs in the domain of ecology. In particular, the author identifies a problem with an existing computer system, called EcoLogic and referred to as EL, which builds simulation programs, and demonstrates an experimental solution to this problem implemented in a new system called NIP-PIE. This solution involves supplementing the program construction´s search for model information by allowing it to ask the user for missing information and hence generating and controlling a dialogue with the user. The main observation resulting from this experiment is that the program generation algorithm is good at generating programs but does not order the sequence of questions in such a way as to provide a natural dialogue with users. The experiment shows that control can be imposed on this algorithm, using metalevel information, consistency checks and heuristics, to make it produce a dialogue acceptable to users, while retaining its generative power