US 8,788,449 B2Granted

Interface for creating and editing boolean logic

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsOriana J. Love, Irgelkha Mejia, Borna Safabakhsh, Anderson E. Wolfe

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Abstract

Boolean graphs and complex non-intuitive editors for authoring complex nested Boolean expressions can result in erroneous evaluation results by relying exclusively on the ability of an author of the Boolean expression to accurately incorporate operands into the Boolean expression to achieve the desired result. Functionality for analyzing the effect of operator changes can be incorporated into an intuitive graphical user interface for authoring the Boolean expression. The impact of the operator changes can be determined based on a position of the operator in the Boolean expression. Multiple evaluation orders for evaluating the operators and their associated operands can also be identified and presented to the programmer to resolve ambiguities, that may arise while evaluating the Boolean expression. The organization of the Boolean expression can be graphically depicted to reflect an evaluation order of the operators and their associated operands that comprise the Boolean expression.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

detecting a manipulation of a graphical depiction of a plurality of operands and a plurality of operators of a Boolean expression on a Boolean logic editing interface;
responsive to said detecting the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression on the Boolean logic editing interface, determining an ambiguity in evaluation of the Boolean expression depicted by the Boolean logic editing interface, wherein the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with a plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the plurality of evaluation orders arise in response to the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression;
presenting, on the Boolean logic editing interface, the plurality of evaluation orders in response to said determining the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression that allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with the plurality of evaluation orders;
determining, based on user input, a selection of a first of the plurality of evaluation orders;
and
updating the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression to graphically depict the first of the plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the Boolean expression is evaluated in accordance with the first of the plurality of evaluation orders.

3 more elements

A computer program product for creating and editing Boolean logic expressions, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to:
detect a manipulation of a graphical depiction of a plurality of operands and a plurality of operators of a Boolean expression on a Boolean logic editing interface;
responsive to detection of the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression on the Boolean logic editing interface, determine an ambiguity in evaluation of the Boolean expression depicted by the Boolean logic editing interface, wherein the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with a plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the plurality of evaluation orders arise in response to the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression;
present, on the Boolean logic editing interface, the plurality of evaluation orders in response to the computer readable program code determining the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression that allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with the plurality of evaluation orders;
determine, based on a user input, a selection of a first of the plurality of evaluation orders;
and
update the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression to graphically depict the first of the plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the Boolean expression is evaluated in accordance with the first of the plurality of evaluation orders.

4 more elements

A computer program product for authoring Boolean logic expressions, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to:
detect a manipulation of a graphical depiction of a plurality of operands and a plurality of operators of a Boolean expression on a Boolean logic editing interface;
responsive to detection of the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression on the Boolean logic editing interface, determine an ambiguity in evaluation of the Boolean expression depicted with the Boolean logic editing interface, wherein the ambiguity in evaluation of the Boolean expression allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with a plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the plurality of evaluation orders arise in response to the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression;
present, on the Boolean logic editing interface, the plurality of evaluation orders in response to the computer readable program code determining the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression that allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with the plurality of evaluation orders;
determine, based on a user input, a selection of a first of the plurality of evaluation orders;
and
rearrange the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression to graphically depict the first of the plurality of evaluation orders.

4 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a processor;
a network interface coupled with the processor;
a Boolean logic editor operable to,
detect a manipulation of a graphical depiction of a plurality of operands and a plurality of operators of a Boolean expression on a Boolean logic editing interface;
responsive to detection of the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression on the Boolean logic editing interface, determine an ambiguity in evaluation of the Boolean expression depicted by the Boolean logic editing interface, wherein the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with a plurality of evaluation orders, wherein the plurality of evaluation orders arise in response to the manipulation of the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression;
present, on the Boolean logic editing interface, the plurality of evaluation orders in response to the computer readable program code determining the ambiguity in the evaluation of the Boolean expression that allows the Boolean expression to be evaluated in accordance with the plurality of evaluation orders;
determine, based on a user input, a selection of a first of the plurality of evaluation orders;
and update the graphical depiction of the plurality of operands and the plurality of operators of the Boolean expression to graphically depict the first of the plurality of evaluation orders.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.