AskIt: Unified Programming Interface for Programming with Large Language Models
Katsumi Okuda, Saman Amarasinghe

TL;DR
AskIt is a domain-specific language that provides a unified interface for integrating large language models into applications, simplifying prompt design, and enabling seamless switching between direct task execution and code generation, thereby improving efficiency.
Contribution
This paper introduces AskIt, a novel DSL that unifies LLM integration for direct tasks and code-based workflows, with type-guided output control and template-based functions.
Findings
16.14% reduction in prompt length compared to benchmarks
Enhanced efficiency in task execution and code generation workflows
Effective in 50 diverse tasks
Abstract
Large Language Models (LLMs) exhibit a unique phenomenon known as emergent abilities, demonstrating adeptness across numerous tasks, from text summarization to code generation. While these abilities open up novel avenues in software design and crafting, their incorporation presents substantial challenges. Developers face decisions regarding the use of LLMs for directly performing tasks within applications as well as for generating and executing code to accomplish these tasks. Moreover, effective prompt design becomes a critical concern, given the necessity of extracting data from natural language outputs. To address these complexities, this paper introduces AskIt, a domain-specific language (DSL) specifically designed for LLMs. AskIt simplifies LLM integration by providing a unified interface that not only allows for direct task execution using LLMs but also supports the entire cycle of…
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Taxonomy
TopicsTopic Modeling · Software Engineering Research · Model-Driven Software Engineering Techniques
