Researchers Develop New Tool For Writing Code

neutron_p writes "A group of researchers, led by Carnegie Mellon researchers, have developed a new set of software tools that may revolutionize the way computer code is written. They said they have created a new breed of software called "SPIRAL" that automatically generates code for signal-processing applications - applications that help make computers run faster and cheaper. "What SPIRAL does is permit users to develop high quality code for new and old applications automatically, say in 10 minutes or less, saving time, money and aggravation for end users""

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

When someone says "I want a programming language in which I need only say what I wish done," give him a lollipop.

Summary of article:

[afaiktoit]

ummm...its called spiral.

DSP Code

[bhima]

Signal processing code represents small part of the code that I write and I find it the most manageable. It's not easy to code nor is more quickly finished. But I find it more predictable and testable. It's the business logic and UI that becomes this impossible morass of vague requirements and compromises.

Re:DSP Code

[torpor]

i concur. the kinds of products i work on have the same constraints: 'tricky DSP code', which, actually, is pretty simple and easy to think with, wrapped up in a huge base of code required to make that simplicity 'easy to use' for the end user.

gah. interface is always gonna be king. lets see if SPIRAL + GUI-RAD is gonna come to fruition any time soon, for DSP work anyway that'd be nice ..

Re:The Man-Month Myth

[p3d0]

Wow... and that even after the entire world has been searching for it for 42 years and didn't find it...

You say that as though 42 years were a long time. That's like some Roman engineer claiming it's impossible to dig a tunnel under the English Channel.

The one claim of MMM I disagree with most strongly is that we are within an order of magnitude of the most productive we will ever be in terms of software development. I firmly believe that 99+% of a typical developer's time is spent fighting with tools and reinventing wheels in a way that will seem pittifully primitive 50 years from now, and will be looked back on with awe and nostalgic reverence 200 years from now.