szwillus@unidocv..uucp (Gerd Szwillus) (11/15/89)
From time to time a discussion about the usefullness of structure editors
flows over this newsgroup. Recently a survey about comercially available
tools of this category took place. Discussion about what a structure editor
really is, how it characterizes in opposition to syntax-directed editors
has gone on. All this shows that there is significant interest in this
kind of tools - and a considerable part of the people interested should
be readers of this newsgroup. This (hopefully) justifies the following
piece of news:
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Call for Participation
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CHI'90 Workshop on Structure Editors
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A limited attendance, invitational workshop on Structure Editors
is being organized for the CHI'90 Conference in Seattle, Washing-
ton. The workshop will be held on April 1-2, 1990.
Syntax-directed editors and graphical structure editors vary
widely in the mechanisms they provide for entry, modification,
and display. Some structure editors are special purpose or
oriented towards novice programmers; some support multiple phases
of the software lifecycle. Editor generators allow more rapid
specification of application-specific or user-specific structure
editors.
The workshop will address the following questions:
1) What are the benefits and drawbacks of structure editors?
2) To what extent do they provide the benefits that their
designers attribute to them, such as increasing the ease
with which novices learn to program?
3) Can they be redesigned to remove their deficiencies,
extended to provide additional capabilities, or diluted to
provide partial functionality such as prettyprinting?
4) What are the future directions/uses for these tools? For
instance, are they particularly well-suited for designing
direct manipulation interfaces or certain types of applica-
tions? Likewise, are they beneficial for certain classes of
users only, and, if so, why?
Participation in the workshop will be limited to twenty people.
Individuals wishing to participate are requested to submit four
copies of a position paper (and an additional copy by email, if
possible) presenting their views on structure editors and their
experience with the design or use of structure editors. The
position paper should also include a brief discussion of the
above questions. Papers should not exceed three pages in length.
The workshop organizers (Lisa Neal, Harvard University and Gerd
Szwillus, Universitaet Dortmund) will issue invitations based on
the position papers. Papers will be distributed to all partici-
pants, along with an agenda, upon notification of acceptance.
The workshop results will be reported in SIGCHI Bulletin.
Position papers are due no later than February 6, 1990. Send
position papers to:
Lisa Neal
Aiken Computation Laboratory
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
lisa@harvard.harvard.edu
617-495-8848
Invited participants will be notified by February 20, 1990.
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