A Fuzzy Visual Query Language for a
Domain-Specific Web Search Engine
Christian Collberg
Department of Computer Science,
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
collberg@cs.arizona.edu
Abstract
AlgoVista is a web-based search
engine that assists programmers to
find algorithms and implementations that solve specific problems.
AlgoVista is not keyword based
but rather requires users to provide
--- in a very simple textual language --- input==>output
samples that describe the behavior of their needed algorithm.
Unfortunately, even this simple language has proven too challenging for
casual users.
To overcome this problem and make
AlgoVista more accessible to
novice programmers,
we are designing and prototyping a visual language for
creating AlgoVista queries.
Since web users do not have the patience to learn fancy query languages
(be they textual or visual), our goal is to make this language
and its implementation natural enough to require virtually no explanation
or user training.
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