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Summary of Picat Usability Feedback
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Neng-Fa Zhou
Jan 31, 2025, 5:21:22 PMJan 31
to Picat
Thank you to everyone who has responded to the Picat Usability Feedback questionnaire! So far, we have received 11 responses. Below is a summary of the feedback, compiled by ChatGPT.
We welcome anyone who would like to contribute to improving Picat and invite sponsors to support our projects. Contributors and investors have the opportunity for co-ownership of the Picat system. If you're interested, please let us know!
Cheers,
Neng-Fa on behalf of the Picat team
Key Findings from the Feedback
1. Useful Features
o Many respondents appreciate constraint modeling, logic programming, and the combination of different paradigms (logic, constraints, scripting).
o Some highlighted tabling, unification, and scripting as particularly useful.
2. Difficult or Confusing Features
o A few users reported confusion with loops, networking (WebSockets), and certain predicates like member and between.
o One user mentioned no difficulties, while another found constraint solvers tricky.
3. Suggestions for Improving User-Friendliness
o Clearer error messages, especially for debugging constraints.
o Easier installation on Mac, possibly with a homebrew formula.
o Direct Neos server integration for optimization problems.
o A dedicated Picat IDE to improve the development experience.
4. Documentation Improvement Suggestions
o More advanced feature explanations and a structured tutorial that gradually introduces Picat’s capabilities.
o More examples demonstrating logic, constraints, and scripting together.
o A request for links to example programs for easier learning.
5. Desired Future Features
o Lambda functions for functional programming.
o Multi-threading support for parallel execution.
o A graphics library with mouse and text input handling.
o Improved support for standalone applications.
Overall Insights
• Users appreciate Picat's flexibility but want better onboarding (documentation, tutorials, IDE).
• Feature requests focus on modern programming paradigms (lambdas, multi-threading, graphics).
• Enhancements to installation, debugging, and networking would be welcomed.
1. Useful Features
o Many respondents appreciate constraint modeling, logic programming, and the combination of different paradigms (logic, constraints, scripting).
o Some highlighted tabling, unification, and scripting as particularly useful.
2. Difficult or Confusing Features
o A few users reported confusion with loops, networking (WebSockets), and certain predicates like member and between.
o One user mentioned no difficulties, while another found constraint solvers tricky.
3. Suggestions for Improving User-Friendliness
o Clearer error messages, especially for debugging constraints.
o Easier installation on Mac, possibly with a homebrew formula.
o Direct Neos server integration for optimization problems.
o A dedicated Picat IDE to improve the development experience.
4. Documentation Improvement Suggestions
o More advanced feature explanations and a structured tutorial that gradually introduces Picat’s capabilities.
o More examples demonstrating logic, constraints, and scripting together.
o A request for links to example programs for easier learning.
5. Desired Future Features
o Lambda functions for functional programming.
o Multi-threading support for parallel execution.
o A graphics library with mouse and text input handling.
o Improved support for standalone applications.
Overall Insights
• Users appreciate Picat's flexibility but want better onboarding (documentation, tutorials, IDE).
• Feature requests focus on modern programming paradigms (lambdas, multi-threading, graphics).
• Enhancements to installation, debugging, and networking would be welcomed.
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