Metarnouse is a demonstrational interface for graphical editing tasks within a drawing program. The user specifies a procedure by performing an example execution trace and creating graphical tools where necessary to help make constraints explicit. The system generalizes the user's action sequence, identifying key features of individual steps and disregarding coincidental events. It creates a program with loops and conditional branches as appropriate and predicts upcoming actions, thereby reducing the tedium of repetitive and precise graphical editing. It uses default reasoning about graphical constraints to make initial generalizations and enables the user to correct these hypotheses either by rejecting its predictions or by editing iconic descriptors it displays after each action.

Metamouse is a device enabling the user of a drawing program to specify graphical procedures by supplying example execution traces. The user manipulates objects directly on the screen, creating graphical tools where necessary to help make constraints explicit; the system records the sequence of actions and induces a procedure. Generalization is used both to identify the key features of individual program steps, disregarding coincidental events; and to connect the steps into a program graph, creating loops and conditional branches as appropriate. Metamouse operates within a 2D click-and-drag drafting package, and incorporates a strong model of the relative importance of different types of graphical constraint. Close attention is paid to user interface aspects, and Metamouse helps the user by predicting and performing actions, thus reducing the tedium of repetitive graphical editing tasks.