ME:: Analogical programming by demonstration as opposed to programming with Fregean text ; Ivan Reese, Jimmy Miller, and Lu Wilson:: Pygmalion by David C. Smith - Feeling of Computing - Omny.fm
Discovered: Oct 19, 2025 07:23 (UTC)ME:: Analogical programming by demonstration as opposed to programming with Fregean text ; Ivan Reese, Jimmy Miller, and Lu Wilson:: Pygmalion by David C. Smith - Feeling of Computing - Omny.fm
See also:
- Pygmalion: An Executable Electronic Blackboard David Canfield Smith
- No-code History: Pygmalion (1975
- Allan Cypher, editor, co-edited by Daniel C. Halbert, David Kurlander, Henry Lieberman, David Maulsby, Brad A. Myers, and Alan Turransky:: Watch What I Do: Programming by Demonstration
QUOTE
- Read the whole thing: Ivan Reese, Jimmy Miller, and Lu Wilson:: Pygmalion by David C. Smith - Feeling of Computing - Omny.fm
If you’re anything like Ivan (oof, sorry), you’ve heard of Pygmalion but never caught more than the gist. Some sort of project from the early 70s, similar to Sketchpad or Smalltalk or something, yet another promising prototype from the early history of our field that failed to take the world by storm. Our stock-in-trade on this show.
But you’ve probably heard of Programming by Demonstration. And you’ve certainly heard of icons — you know, those little pictures that have become indelibly part of computing as we know it. Pygmalion is the originator of these concepts… and more!
The best introduction to Pygmalion is Mariano Guerra’s No-code History: Pygmalion, which includes a clearly articulated summary of the big ideas, motivation, and design, with a video demonstration of the programming interface, key terminology, and links.
The most introduction to Pygmalion — or Pig Million, The Millionth Pig, as it’ll surely come to be known — is the subject of today’s episode: the original paper by David Canfield Smith.