On the Future of Computer Program Specification and Organization

Abstract

The report summarizes the currently available methods of organizing computer programs--subroutine pyramid, generators, co-routines, and passed subroutines--and presents an alternative concept, program integration, based on use of the total context rather than specific procedures. Most of a typical program is devoted to housekeeping data--subroutine save areas, parameter passing mechanisms, indices, pointers, tree and list structures, dictionaries-- that have nothing to do with the specific problem but rather with its computer solution. Programs expressed entirely in problem-specific terms require implied rather than specified processing; logical process specifications not affected by data representation; dynamic linkage by the system of separate specifications, with dynamic adaptive modification at execution; and dynamic requesting of information as required from the current context. Steps in this direction include CORC, DWIM, VERS, question-answering system, PL/I ON-UNITS, Dataless Programming and Ports.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1971
Accession Number
AD0731349

Entities

People

  • R. M. Balzer

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Languages
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Databases
  • Generators
  • Language
  • Maintenance
  • Organizational Structure
  • Procedures (Computers)
  • Resilience
  • Side Effects
  • Software Development
  • Specifications

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Systems Analysis and Design