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She proposed natural language programming over 50 years ago. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=365274

There still hasn't been a whole lot of progress, although there have been some research projects and some closed source applications like Inform7 and WolframAlpha.

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although there have been some research projects and some closed source applications like Inform7 and WolframAlpha.

Just as an FYI, Inform7[1] is - according to Wikipedia anyway - available under the Artistic License[2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_License

The most interesting part that translates the natural language Inform 7 code to the more traditional Inform 6 code has not been open sourced. Graham Nelson talked about wanting to release the code as literate programs[1]. Currently the status of the publishable release for the ni compiler component is "as of April 2009, about two-thirds done"[2].

[1]: http://inform7.com/sources/inweb/ [2]: http://inform7.com/sources/webs/

Currently the status of the publishable release for the ni compiler component is "as of April 2009, about two-thirds done"

Blimey. :-( Here's hoping it sees the light of day at some point!

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