June 4 , 2008

Hal Eden

Genetic Computation as a Component of End-User Development?

Abstract

A long-term L3D “holy grail” has been in the areas end-user programming/end-user modifiability—specifically in connection with the Seeding, Evolutionary growth, Reseeding (SER) Model. This has been focused on ill-structured design problems, such as urban planning (an “open sim-city”). In our Science of Design effort, we see the fundamental challenge in the design of participative software systems as achieving the best fit between the software system and its ever-changing context of use.

Our current approaches have focused on direct manipulation and visual programming: e.g., AgentSheets/Visual AgentTalk, Squeak/eToys, which still require the user to become involved in “programming logic” to modify or extend the system.

This talk explores whether there may be avenues to explore in the direction of Genetic Computation, discussing challenges and opportunities in this area.

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