The Three Pillars of Machine Programming

TL;DR

This paper presents a vision for the future of machine programming centered on three key pillars: intention, invention, and adaptation, highlighting interface improvements, algorithm development, and autonomous software evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a categorical framework for understanding the future research directions in machine programming based on three fundamental pillars.

Findings

Emphasizes the importance of human-computer interfaces in machine programming.

Highlights the role of ML in creating and refining algorithms and hardware.

Proposes autonomous software evolution as a key research area.

Abstract

In this position paper, we describe our vision of the future of machine programming through a categorical examination of three pillars of research. Those pillars are: (i) intention, (ii) invention, and(iii) adaptation. Intention emphasizes advancements in the human-to-computer and computer-to-machine-learning interfaces. Invention emphasizes the creation or refinement of algorithms or core hardware and software building blocks through machine learning (ML). Adaptation emphasizes advances in the use of ML-based constructs to autonomously evolve software.