LFCS Seminar: Wednesday 12 June - Andy Gordon

Title: Requirements are All You Need: The Final Frontier for End-User Software Engineering

Abstract

Based on a joint position paper with Diana Robinson, Christian

Cabrera, Neil D. Lawrence, and Lars Mennen.

Paper abstract:

What if end users could own the software development lifecycle from

conception to deployment using only requirements expressed in

language, images, video or audio? We explore this idea, building on the

capabilities that generative Artificial Intelligence brings to

software generation and maintenance techniques. How could designing

software in this way better serve end users? What are the implications

of this process for the future of end-user software engineering and the

software development lifecycle? We discuss the research needed to

bridge the gap between where we are today and these imagined systems of

the future.

Andy Gordon is a computer scientist specializing in programming

languages, AI, and human-computer interaction, with a special

interest in spreadsheets. After 26 years at Microsoft, Andy is now

Chief Science Officer at software synthesis company Cogna. As Partner

Research Manager at Microsoft Research, Andy led a diverse team of

researchers and engineers to evolve Microsoft Excel as an end-user

programming language. Their impact includes natural language

formulas using generative AI in Copilot for Excel, the Calc.ts

client-side execution engine for Excel formulas, Excel Labs, and

formula features like LET/LAMBDA. Andy was recognised as a 2020 Fellow

of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for his research on

programming languages: principles, logic, usability, and

trustworthiness. As an academic, Andy is now Honorary Professor at the

University of Edinburgh, following 12 years as full Professor. His PhD

research at Cambridge contributed to the design of monadic I/O in

Haskell, with his ASCII art “»=” inspiring the Haskell logo.