Computer science professors receive grant

Professors David Binkley, Ph.D., and Dawn Lawrie, Ph.D., are making great strides toward advancements in the field of computer science, more specifically, software and programming. The Loyola University Maryland Computer Science Department recently received a grant worth $309,757.

The grant was bestowed upon them by the National Science Foundation after a long application process. The contributions made by the NSF will go toward Binkley and Lawrie's forthcoming project, "Making Sense of Source Code: Improving Software through Information Retrieval."

The title of the project is verbose, but Dr. Dawn explained simply, "The aim is to help improve the ability to retrieve information. And to help other researchers get better results from the tools that have already been built."

Binkley explained that the language of computers is in code. The research in this project will be made towards the development of tools to make programs in reading code more effective.

Dr. Binkley said, "The pie in the sky is improved software."

In response as to what the grand total of $309,757 will be put toward, Binkley said, "Well, I'm thinking about buying a Lamborghini."

Writing a program can become strenuous and extremely complex. Programs are written in thousands of lines of text in code. Now, modern systems can have up to millions of lines of code. Binkley said that these codes can become almost impossible to understand.

"Do you use version one of anything?" asked Binkley. "The answer is no. No one uses the very first version because it becomes updated into something newer and better."

"It will have two effects on the Loyola community. Directly, a collection of students have been working with us on the project, which gives them exposure and helps those who are graduate-school bound. Indirectly, the rest of students will be exposed to working on problems and helping them is more current," continued Binkley.

There are two different phases to programming: construction and maintenance. There needs to be the initial tools to create the programs but also research and development for regular upgrades and changes in order to improve performance.

Matthew Hearn graduated in 2009 from Loyola College with a major in Computer Science and is now a part of the graduate program. Hearn said that he has nothing to say but good things about the department.

"Dr. Binkley and Dr. Lawrie have really been mentors to me, especially because I came to Loyola as business major and I had no idea where I wanted to go," said Hearn.

Hearn said that Dr. Binkley approached him about helping with the research project his sophomore year.

"Since then, I've stuck with what they were working on as far as research goes."

This particular project is dealing with comprehending source code and the language in it, looking at how people go about creating code.

"I took a three-credit course where I took that project and basically worked really hard, actual data-based, analyzed data found."

Now Hearn is a graduate assistant in the department and is continuing with the research.

Hearn said, "I think the research is really important in seeing the way which people comprehend code, learning environment important when students are learning where something could be cryptic."

Binkley said, "There's a formal notation in math and the same with programming. There is also a lot of natural language."

Hearn explained that the idea is to try and develop a standard so that code can be understood by non-programmers. One has so much freedom when code is written, so the question is whether some kind of grammar rules can be developed to make it more readable.

The application process took up nearly two years. Proposals were put together, then submitted to the NSF, who then decided which programs are to be funded. It's typical for the first request to be denied.

Dr. Lawrie said, "It's like getting comments from an English teacher on a paper. You take the criticisms and tighten the bits. The first time around they said, 'No,' and fortunately they said, 'Yes,' the second time around."

"It definitely put a big smile on our faces", said Binkely.