---
title: "APE: An Expert System for Automatic Programming from Abstract Specifications of Data Types and Algorithms"
authors:
  - "Ulrich Bartels"
  - "Walter G. Olthoff"
  - "Peter Raulefs"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/198"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1981/0198.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1981
pages: "1037-1042"
track: "Program Synthesis"
keywords:
---

# APE: An Expert System for Automatic Programming from Abstract Specifications of Data Types and Algorithms

Ulrich Bartels, Walter G. Olthoff, Peter Raulefs

*Proceedings of the Seventh International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 1037-1042.

## Abstract

The APE (Auto•attc Progra••tng Expert) executable and efficient prograMs fro• • algebraic speci f ications of abstract data • abstract algorithms given as conditional s ys te•s w1th ter• s bu1lt up fro• operat1on abstract data types 1nvolved. systea construct• types, •nd ter~ - rewrite-rule sy•bols of the The APE is an e•perl•ental syste• devised to develop •ethods for cod1fy1ng a rather broad extent of prograMming knowledge requ1red to construct 1•plementations of data types and at gor 1 th•s. for data type specifications, the APE ad•its hidden oper•tlons, conditi o nal a x 1o•s, and para•eter1zed data types. The APE automaticall y iMplements al9ebraic specifications of all coma o nly known data types 1n terms of clusters of lNTERLISPfunctlons . The APE constructs executable implementations of • var i ety of sorting and searching algortthMs. As an exper1nental prototype, the APE deeonstrates that • knowledge-b~sed proor•••ing paradtau prov1des a useful tool for par~lally autoaating an 1•portant phase of software developaent.