Speakers
Description
nlScript is a novel toolbox for creating unified scripting interfaces based on natural language in applications where a large number of configuration options renders traditional Graphical User Interfaces unintuitive and intricate. nlScript's concept is based on 3Dscript, where users describe in natural English sentences how 3Dscript’s rendering engine should animate volumetric microscope data sets in 3D. nlScript contains everything needed to implement similar interfaces for any application: An intuitive way to define the grammar for such a language, a dedicated editor that automatically infers auto-completion rules from the defined grammar, a parser and an environment for executing user-defined scripts. In contrast to language-based agents based on Large Language Models (LLMs), which are inherently non-deterministic due to unconstrained user input, the languages created with nlScript are deterministic and thus also suitable for controlling critical processes. We demonstrate nlScript's applicability in two example applications (1) to configure flexible time-lapse imaging experiments on a commercial microscope and (2) to automatically and reproducibly generate screen recordings using our new software 'Screenplay'. nlScript is natively available in Java, Python and JavaScript.
| Authors | Benjamin Schmid*, Ralph Palmisano |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Scripting, Natural Language, Software development, Java, Python, JavaScript, Microscopy, Screencasts |
