[nflug] Software lets programmers code hands-free - New Scientist article

speljamr at speljamr.com speljamr at speljamr.com
Sat May 6 13:52:50 EDT 2006



As a programmer I'm seeing a lot of profanity in the form of variable
names. God only knows how many times I'm swearing at my programs. lol.

Tim
speljamr at speljamr.com


> Got this on
another list.  Thought it might be of general interest.
> 
> Joe
> 
> Something was going to happen sometime I
suppose. Not quite xvoice
> though...
> 
>
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn9066
> 
> 
> Software lets programmers code hands-free
>        * 17:58
26 April 2006
>        * NewScientist.com news service
>  
     * Duncan Graham-Rowe
> 
> 
> A new speech
recognition tool promises to let programmers write clean
> code
without ever having to lay a finger on their keyboard.
> 
> The tool, called VoiceCode, has been developed to help programmers
with
> repetitive strain injury (RSI). This is a common affliction
for people
> who spend a lot of time using a keyboard or mouse and
causes pain in
> muscles, tendons and nerves in a sufferer's arms
and back. Some
> estimates suggest 22% of all US computer
programmers, or 100,000 people,
> suffer from the condition.
> 
> Standard speech recognition software can be used to
control a computer
> but is usually of little help to programmers,
says Alain Désilets of the
> National Research
Council of Canada in Ottawa, one of the creators of
> VoiceCode.
This is because each symbol and function and every syntactic
>
peculiarity must be carefully spelled out.
> 
> VoiceCode
lets a programmer dictate code in a more natural way,
Désilets
> says, rapidly translating their utterances
into awkward programming
> syntax. For example, in order to write
"if (currRecNum < maxOffSet)" a
> VoiceCode user only
needs to say: "if current record number is less than
> max
offset then". Traditional voice-recognition programs could require
> nearly 50 individual words to be dictated.
> 
> 
> Chat not quit
> VoiceCode currently works with the
programming language Python but could
> be adapted to support
others, Désilets claims. Although not as fast as
>
using a regular mouse and keyboard, he believes it should help many
> programmers with RSI get back to work.
> 
>
"Often people just quit," says Quintijn Hoogenboom, a programmer
from
> the Netherlands who develops specialised speech recognition
software.
> 
> Hoogenboom notes that other speech
recognition programs let users create
> their own shortcuts but
believes VoiceCode is unique in its ability to
> automatically
recognise spoken syntax and turn it into correct code.
> 
> Désilets began working on VoiceCode when he himself
developed RSI a
> decade ago. He now wants to release the software
so that other
> programmers can evaluate it. But he admits that it
needs to be easier to
> install. "It typically takes the
better part of a day to get all the
> pieces installed and working
properly," he says. "For someone who has
> trouble
typing, that may seem insurmountable."
> 
>
Désilets presented the project at the annual Computer and
Human
> Interaction (CHI2006) conference in Montreal on Monday.
The work was
> carried out with David Fox from Harvard University
and Stuart Norton
> from the University of California,
Berkeley.
> 
> 
> 
> --
>
-------------------------------------------------------------
>
"When the multitude detests a man, inquiry is necessary; when the
> multitude likes a man, inquiry is equally necessary."
> Confucius, Analects (circa 6th century BC)
> 
> Or
more pertinently:
> "Beer is proof that God loves us and
wants us to be happy."
> Benjamin Franklin
> 
> 
>
-------------------------------------------------------
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>
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