Intentional Software
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development, Programming tools |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Charles Simonyi, Gregor Kiczales |
| Defunct | 2017 |
| Fate | Acquired by Microsoft |
Number of employees | Nearly 100 (2017) |
| Parent | Microsoft (from 2017) |
Intentional Software was a technology firm focused on developing tools and platforms rooted in the concept of intentional programming. This methodology emphasizes capturing the intentions of users and designers while reducing direct interaction with compilers and machines. Their offerings featured language workbenches that distinctly separated software functionality from its implementation, facilitating language-centric development and enabling automatic code transformation as domain expertise advanced. Subsequently, the company introduced platforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency of software development teams.
History
In the 1990s, Charles Simonyi initiated the concept of Intentional Programming at Microsoft Research, concentrating on encoding user intent instead of detailed coding instructions. By 1995, he had developed an integrated development environment exemplifying this model and released a technical report titled "The Death Of Computer Languages, The Birth of Intentional Programming." The initiative evolved from a research project into a development effort by 1999, with Microsoft publishing an educational video about the system in 2000.
Around 2001, as Microsoft prioritized C# and .NET technologies, it chose not to pursue commercialization of intentional programming. With permission, Simonyi established a new company to advance the idea, founding Intentional Software in 2002 alongside co-founder Gregor Kiczales, who left the company in 2003. After undergoing two complete codebase rewrites by 2006, the firm polished its platform for real-world application.
By 2017, Intentional Software had grown to nearly 100 employees. On April 18, 2017, Microsoft acquired the company and absorbed many team members into its Microsoft Office division.
Products and services
Intentional Software created the Domain Workbench, a language workbench designed for building and managing domain-specific languages, along with crafting custom languages tailored to clients’ requirements. Additionally, they developed the Intentional Platform, a collaborative productivity software toolset.
Although their concepts were recognized within the industry, their language workbench stood out for being significantly more sophisticated than others available at the time. Software was authored using a general-purpose language named CL1, structured as a tree or database rather than plain text. This design enabled various representations such as circuit diagrams or syntax resembling C#. The workbench incorporated features like integrated test case definition, version control, and runtime deployment capabilities for standalone applications. While primarily aligned with the .NET framework, it also supported deployment on Java platforms.