Programming by Non-Programmers,
Abstract
Non-programming college Ss were asked to select and organize natural English commands of a laboratory programming language into a sequential procedure for solving various card-sorting problems. The problems differed in the sorting-concept to be programmed (conjunction vs inclusive disjunction) and in the form of letter-tests to be made on name-cards to be sorted (either affirmatively or negatively expressed tests). Response latency and error measures indicated that procedure specifications was easier for conjunctive than for disjunctive problems, and that problem conditions involving a negative expression of at least one test were more difficult, resulting in more errors, than a condition in which both tests were expressed in the affirmative. Different calsses of transfer-of-control structures of programs were identified and were highly associated with certain problem conditions and error measures. An influence of prior experience with procedures on performance was suggested. Debugging of programs was found to require more time and program-modification activity than initial programming. Program-testing behavior was found to be fairly efficient. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 14, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0760043
Entities
People
- Lance A. Miller
Organizations
- IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center