Technical Dimensions of Programming Systems
Joel Jakubovic (University of Kent, UK), Jonathan Edwards (n.n.,, n.n.), Tomas Petricek (University of Kent, UK / Charles University, Czechia)

TL;DR
This paper introduces a framework of technical dimensions to systematically analyze, compare, and advance programming systems, addressing the lack of a unified theoretical foundation in this area.
Contribution
It proposes a set of technical dimensions derived from past influential systems to enable structured comparison and conceptualization of programming systems.
Findings
Framework captures characteristics of programming systems
Enables analysis of recent programming systems
Identifies unexplored design space in programming systems
Abstract
Programming requires much more than just writing code in a programming language. It is usually done in the context of a stateful environment, by interacting with a system through a graphical user interface. Yet, this wide space of possibilities lacks a common structure for navigation. Work on programming systems fails to form a coherent body of research, making it hard to improve on past work and advance the state of the art. In computer science, much has been said and done to allow comparison of **programming languages**, yet no similar theory exists for *programming systems*; we believe that programming systems deserve a theory too. We present a framework of *technical dimensions* which capture the underlying characteristics of programming systems and provide a means for conceptualizing and comparing them. We identify technical dimensions by examining past influential programming…
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