A visual programming environment for programming by example abstraction

The paper describes a way of extending the flexibility of example-based programming. The purpose of introducing such a programming style is to provide the user with a way of telling the system why and how he operates on it. This ability is achieved by introducing three mechanisms for target object specification, goal-driven execution, and parameter transfer by means of a clipboard. In the system, the user can specify the relationship between the application status, the target object, and the user operation. A flexible programming capability can be provided as a monitoring function for system support. Consequently, the user can apply the programming-by-example facility to any applications implemented on top of this system