Automatic programming

In <a href="/facts/Computer_science/lN3pEyPz">computer science</a>, automatic programming is a type of <a href="/facts/Computer_programming/QmSsFnu0">computer programming</a> in which some mechanism generates a <a href="/facts/Computer_program/e38jH9N9">computer program</a>, to allow human <a href="/facts/Programmer/WGTS1Jv9">programmers</a> to write the code at a higher abstraction level.
There has been little agreement on the precise definition of automatic programming, mostly because its meaning has changed over time. <a href="/facts/David_Parnas/1zPw1V0m">David Parnas</a>, tracing the history of "automatic programming" in published research, noted that in the 1940s it described automation of the manual process of punching <a href="/facts/Paper_tape/8HI7dThI">paper tape</a>. Later it referred to translation of <a href="/facts/High-level_programming_language/smjECUhx">high-level programming languages</a> like <a href="/facts/Fortran/m1KqjcMU">Fortran</a> and <a href="/facts/ALGOL/wlFJGNEx">ALGOL</a>. In fact, one of the earliest programs identifiable as a <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">compiler</a> was called <a href="/facts/Autocode/6ITEG7sR">Autocode</a>. <a href="/facts/David_Parnas/1zPw1V0m">Parnas</a> concluded that "automatic programming has always been a <a href="/facts/Euphemism/S3j2eHnU">euphemism</a> for programming in a higher-level language than was then available to the programmer."
<a href="/facts/Program_synthesis/IK3gcrfp">Program synthesis</a> is one type of automatic programming where a procedure is created from scratch, based on mathematical requirements.

Automatic programming open-in-new

Automatic programming