Domain-independent programming by demonstration in existing applications

Abstract

This paper describes Familiar, a domain- independent programming by demonstration system for automating iterative tasks in existing, unmodified applications on a popular commercial platform. Familiar is domain- independent in an immediate and practical sense: it requires no domain knowledge from the developer and works immediately with new applications as soon as they are installed. Based on the AppleScript language, the system demonstrates that commercial operating systems are mature enough to support practical, domain- independent programming by demonstration – but only just, for the work exposes many deficiencies.