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Dr. Sumit Gulwani<\/a> is a programmer\u2019s programmer. Literally. A Partner Research Manager in the Program Synthesis, or PROSE, group at Microsoft Research, Dr. Gulwani is a leading researcher in program synthesis and the inventor of many intent-understanding, programming-by-example and programming-by-natural language technologies \u2013 aka, the automation of \u201cwhat I meant to do and wanted to do, but my computer wouldn\u2019t let me\u201d tasks.<\/p>\n Today, Dr. Gulwani gives us an overview of the exciting \u201cnow\u201d and promising future of program synthesis; reveals some fascinating new applications and technical advances; tells us the story behind the creation of Excel\u2019s popular Flash Fill<\/a> feature (and how a Flash Fill Fail elicited a viral tweet that paved the way for new domain investments); and shares a heartwarming story of how human empathy facilitated an \u201cah-ha math moment\u201d in the life of a child, and what that might mean to computer scientists, educators, and even tech companies in the future.<\/p>\n Sumit<\/span> <\/span>Gulwani<\/span>: <\/span>Ninety<\/span>–<\/span>nine percent of people who use computers do not know programming and they get stuck with repetitive, tedious tasks. But these are quite creative people and it is just that programming, as it exists today, creates an artificial barrier to program computers. Program synthesis can allow these end<\/span>–<\/span>users to express themselves naturally and program computers as easily as they would command a personal assistant.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: <\/span><\/b>You\u2019re listening to the Microsoft Research Podcast, a show that brings you closer to the cutting-edge of technology research and the scientists behind it. I\u2019m your host, Gretchen Huizinga.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: Dr. <\/span><\/b>Sumit<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>Gulwani<\/span><\/b> is a programmer\u2019s programmer. Literally. A Partner Research Manager in the Program Synthesis, or PROSE, group at Microsoft Research, Dr. <\/span><\/b>Gulwani<\/span><\/b> is a leading researcher in program synthesis<\/span><\/b>,<\/span><\/b> and the inventor of many intent-understanding, programming-by-example and programming-by-natural language <\/span><\/b>technologie<\/span><\/b>s.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Today, Dr. <\/span><\/b>Gulwani<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>gives us an overvie<\/span><\/b>w<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>of the exciting <\/span><\/b>\u201c<\/span><\/b>now<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/b> and promising future<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>of program synthesis<\/span><\/b>;<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>reveals some fascinating new applications and technical advances<\/span><\/b>;<\/span><\/b> tells us the story behind the creation of Excel\u2019s popular Flash Fill feature (and how a Flash Fill Fail elicited a viral tweet that paved the way for new domain investments<\/span><\/b>); <\/span><\/b>and <\/span><\/b>shares a heartwarming story o<\/span><\/b>f h<\/span><\/b>ow human empathy facilitated an \u201cah-ha math moment\u201d <\/span><\/b>in the life of a child, <\/span><\/b>and what that might mean to <\/span><\/b>computer scientists, <\/span><\/b>educators and even tech companies in the future.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>That and much more<\/span><\/b> on this episode of the Microsoft Research Podcast.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n (music plays)<\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: <\/span><\/b>Sumit<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>Gulwani<\/span><\/b>, welcome to the podcast<\/span><\/b>!<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Sumit<\/span> <\/span>Gulwani<\/span>: <\/span>Thanks, Gretchen. It’s great to be here.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: So I like to situate guests at beginning, and you’re Partner Research Manager in the Program Synthesis, or PROSE group at Microsoft Research and you describe yourself as a scientist seeking connections<\/span><\/b>\u2026<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>between ideas, between research and practice, and with people in varied roles<\/span><\/b>.<\/span><\/b> So in other words, you’re a dot connector! <\/span><\/b>In broad strokes, tell us what gets you up in the morning? What \u201cX\u201d are you and the other members of your group trying to solve for?<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Sumit<\/span> <\/span>Gulwani<\/span>: <\/span>It is simply the opportunity to work with the fantastic team that I am part of.<\/span> W<\/span>e have <\/span>richest<\/span> experts in programming languages, <\/span>formal<\/span> methods, software engineering, machine<\/span>–<\/span>learning, and even human computer interaction.<\/span> <\/span>We have researchers and engineers working closely with program managers and user<\/span>–<\/span>experience designers.<\/span> <\/span>I’m also terribly excited about the charter of this team, which is to advance the state<\/span>–<\/span>of<\/span>–<\/span>the art in program synthesis and to deliver these innovations as magical experiences across a wide range of Microsoft products<\/span>.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: <\/span><\/b>Well, we have a lot of ground to cover today on the topic of program synthesis, so let’s set the stage<\/span><\/b>,<\/span><\/b> and operationalize the term.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b>What is program synthesis and why is it significant?<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Sumit<\/span> <\/span>Gulwani<\/span>: <\/span>Program synthesis is any capability to automatically generate programs<\/span>,<\/span> or code fragments<\/span>,<\/span> from user’s intent expressed to some natural form like input\/output examples, demonstrations, partial programs or even keywords or natural language.<\/span> <\/span>This has <\/span>the<\/span> potential to facilitate two disruptions.<\/span> <\/span>First, creation of 100<\/span>x<\/span> mo<\/span>r<\/span>e programmers, because <\/span>ninety nine percent of people who use computers do not know programming and they get stuck with repetitive, tedious tasks. But these are quite creative people and it is just that programming, as it exists today, creates an artificial barrier to program computers. Program synthesis can allow these end users to express themselves naturally and program computers as easily as they would command a personal assistant.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n Host: <\/span><\/b>Hmm.<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Sumit<\/span> <\/span>Gulwani<\/span>: <\/span>The second disruption relates to improving the productivity of existing developers and data scientists by 10 <\/span>to 1<\/span>00<\/span>x<\/span> in many task domains.<\/span> <\/span>Most of the code that these folks are writing is simply boilerplate code.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\nRelated:<\/h3>\n
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