Article

Goal-Directed Debugging of Spreadsheets

Authors:

Robin Abraham,

Martin ErwigAuthors Info & Claims

VLHCC '05: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing

Pages 37 - 44

https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2005.42

Published: 20 September 2005 Publication History

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Abstract

We present a semi-automatic debugger for spreadsheet systems that is specifically targeted at end-user programmers. Users can report expected values for cells that yield incorrect results. The system then generates change suggestions that could correct the error. Users can interactively explore, apply, refine, or reject these change suggestions. The computation of change suggestions is based on a formal inference system that propagates expected values backwards across formulas. The system is fully integrated into Microsoft Excel and can be used to automatically detect and correct various kinds of errors in spreadsheets. Test results show that the system works accurately and reliably.

Cited By

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Zhang TChen ZZhu YVaithilingam PWang XGlassman EKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Interpretable Program SynthesisProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445646(1-16)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445646
Reiss S(2019)IoT end user programming modelsProceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Software Engineering Research & Practices for the Internet of Things10.1109/SERP4IoT.2019.00008(1-8)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/SERP4IoT.2019.00008
Jannach DSchmitz THofer BSchekotihin KKoch PWotawa F(2019)Fragment-based spreadsheet debuggingAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-018-0250-926:1(203-239)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-018-0250-9
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Index Terms

Goal-Directed Debugging of Spreadsheets
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
      1. Spreadsheets
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software verification and validation
      1. Software defect analysis
        Software testing and debugging

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Published In

VLHCC '05: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing

September 2005

304 pages

ISBN:0769524435

Publisher

IEEE Computer Society

United States

Publication History

Published: 20 September 2005

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Zhang TChen ZZhu YVaithilingam PWang XGlassman EKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)Interpretable Program SynthesisProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445646(1-16)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445646
Reiss S(2019)IoT end user programming modelsProceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Software Engineering Research & Practices for the Internet of Things10.1109/SERP4IoT.2019.00008(1-8)Online publication date: 27-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/SERP4IoT.2019.00008
Jannach DSchmitz THofer BSchekotihin KKoch PWotawa F(2019)Fragment-based spreadsheet debuggingAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-018-0250-926:1(203-239)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-018-0250-9
Monperrus M(2018)Automatic Software RepairACM Computing Surveys10.1145/310590651:1(1-24)Online publication date: 23-Jan-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3105906
Almeida LCirilo EBarbosa E(2016)SS-BDDProceedings of the 1st Brazilian Symposium on Systematic and Automated Software Testing10.1145/2993288.2993296(1-10)Online publication date: 19-Sep-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2993288.2993296
Kankuzi BSajaniemi J(2016)A mental model perspective for tool development and paradigm shift in spreadsheetsInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.10.00586:C(149-163)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.10.005
Hofer BPerez AAbreu RWotawa F(2015)On the empirical evaluation of similarity coefficients for spreadsheets fault localizationAutomated Software Engineering10.1007/s10515-014-0145-322:1(47-74)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10515-014-0145-3
Hofer BRiboira AWotawa FAbreu RGetzner E(2013)On the empirical evaluation of fault localization techniques for spreadsheetsProceedings of the 16th international conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering10.1007/978-3-642-37057-1_6(68-82)Online publication date: 16-Mar-2013
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Wei YPei YFuria CSilva LBuchholz SMeyer BZeller ATonella POrso A(2010)Automated fixing of programs with contractsProceedings of the 19th international symposium on Software testing and analysis10.1145/1831708.1831716(61-72)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2010
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Ko AMyers B(2010)Extracting and answering why and why not questions about Java program outputACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/1824760.182476120:2(1-36)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1824760.1824761
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UCheck: A spreadsheet type checker for end users

How to communicate unit error messages in spreadsheets

How to communicate unit error messages in spreadsheets

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