Sebastian,
should comprise multiple projects that come with JUnit test cases that
pass and have good test coverage.
This is the flying pig part of your request.
Wouldn't it be possible in theory?
I'm sure you can find plenty of Java software that comes with some
kind of test suite. Unit test level and/or good coverage, possible
in theory.
As for flying pigs, I'm sure they could be genetically engineered to
grow wings. Power to weight ratio is the big problem. Perhaps they
could be taught to climb trees and throw themselves off like flying
foxes.
That requires some info on the programming construct: I'm adding
indirect anaphora to an extension of Java. Anaphora is a backward
relation to a referent previously mentioned in the text, e.g. "He" in
"James Gosling invented Java. He does not work for Sun anymore."
Indirect anaphora is a backward relation to a referent that has not yet
been mentioned in the text but is related to a previously mentioned
referent. The relation can be a semantic or a conceptual one. In "An
Sounds a bit like name binding in lambda calculus.
I used an account of indirect anaphora resolution from cognitive
linguistics as kind of a blue print for implementing indirect anaphora
in an extension of Java. The underlying assumption is that the so-called
There is also a big underlying assumption that there is enough locality
of reference to make a new construct supporting anaphora worthwhile.
This might apply in some domains, scientific computing springs to mind.
Too much use of anaphora will create lots of ambiguity.
"Jim killed the man with the telescope" (who was the telescope the
murder weapon?)
To figure out whether the implementation of the compiler matches the
theory as well as how humans understand text/source code, a controlled
experiment could be used. IDEs provide functions like "go to
declaration" to allow a programmer to get more info on a program
element. One could count how often a programmer uses such functions for
indirect anaphors, i.e. how often a programmer asks the IDE to present
the referent of an indirect anaphor because he is not able to resolve it
himself. The more often a programmer asks for the resolution of a
referent, the lower his understanding of indirect anaphors in source code.
or the more ambiguous the anaphora were, or because other information
was required, or that option was easier to use, or the programmer did
not understand the language construct, ...
--
Derek M. Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667
Knowledge Software Ltd blog:shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com
Source code analysis http://www.knosof.co.uk
--
The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity
in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).
