Abstract
A problem solving environment(PSE) is a computer software system or a computational facility to solve, for example, partial-differential-equations(PDEs) -based problems. Solving PDEs problems in a PSE requires smooth and flexible interactions between a PSE and a user. We have developed a PSE for PDEs problems called NCAS system. NCAS tracks the process of problem solving task, and allows the user to visualize and modify/steer the program generation process at any point. So far several PSEs for PDEs problems have been developed. Most of them do not allow users to visualize and/or to modify the process of program generation. The capabilities of visualization and steering allow the users to understand the whole process well. The capabilities of process visualization and steering are essentially important to steer a problem solving process to an appropriate direction. The effective visualization and steering of the problem solving process in NCAS are demonstrated in this paper.
