Problem-Solving Transfer Among Programming Languages

Abstract

This study investigated knowledge transfer among three programming languages -- namely, LISP, PROLOG, and PASCAL. Three experiments were conducted: the first two on transfer between LISP and PROLOG, while the third on transfer between LISP and PASCAL. The results from all the experiments showed evidence of positive transfer; the transfer was positive in terms of time savings from programming in one language to that in another for the same problem. Furthermore, it was found that transfer in programming was largely localized in writing the first drafts of programs. Sometimes this transfer was manifested even though different algorithms were used in programming in different languages for the same problem. To account for the results on transfer across programming languages, a three-level transfer -- namely, transfer at the syntactic, algorithmic, and problem levels --theory was proposed in this paper. (Author) (kr)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 04, 1990
Accession Number
ADA225798

Entities

People

  • John R. Anderson
  • Quanfeng Wu

Organizations

  • Carnegie Mellon University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Data Analysis
  • Databases
  • Debugging
  • Engineering
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Information Processing
  • Language
  • Numbers
  • Programming Languages
  • Psychology
  • United States
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

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