Automatic generation of programs containing conditional statements

Abstract

An experimental system for automatically generating certain simple kinds of programs is described. The programs constructed are expressed in a subset of ALGOL containing assignments, function calls, conditional statements, while loops, and non-recursive procedure calls. The system has been used to generate programs for symbolic manipulation, robot control, every day planning, and computing arithmetical functions. This system has previously been described in [Buchanan and Luckham 1974]. The present report focuses on the generation of conditional statements and describes applications to mechanical assembly and symbolic manipulation problems.