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An Empirical Study of Formal Procedure Specification.

Programming a computer is a problem-solving activity which can be categorized as formal procedure specification. It is a useful vehicle for the study of this aspect of problem-solving because the procedures can be automatically tested for correctness. The reported study focuses on the incidence and...

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Published in:Contemporary Educational Psychology Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 163 - 169
Main Author: Bell, D. A.
Format: Article
Published: Academic Press Inc. Apr1978
Subjects:
Computer programming
Computer programmers
Computer software development
Empirical research
Problem solving
Computer software testing
Computer software correctness
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:Programming a computer is a problem-solving activity which can be categorized as formal procedure specification. It is a useful vehicle for the study of this aspect of problem-solving because the procedures can be automatically tested for correctness. The reported study focuses on the incidence and severity of errors committed during program development by novice programmers. The observations are summarized in tabular form, to permit insights into the sorts of errors virtually untrained students make when specifying procedures, and the problems they have eliminating them.