First Advisor

Jeanne Scholtz

Term of Graduation

Winter 1993

Date of Publication

3-5-1993

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Language

English

Subjects

Computer software -- Human factors, Comprehension, Software maintenance

DOI

10.15760/etd.6456

Physical Description

1 online resource (2, ix, 183 pages)

Abstract

The studies reported herein compare comprehension of Lit style literate programs to that of traditional modular programs documented by embedded comments. Novice and intermediate programmers participated in three experiments designed to determine the comprehensibility of literate programs written using a language-independent system for abstraction-oriented literate programming compared with programs written using traditional modular programming techniques (traditional modular programs). Programs were written in either the C or FORTRAN programming language. Half of the subjects in each group received a literate program, while the other half received a traditional modular program with embedded documentation. Subjects received a problem specification, input and output specifications, and a language reference for use in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a program maintenance task (complete an incomplete program). The maintenance task was used as a measure of comprehension; it simulates an actual task in the software engineering industry that requires program comprehension in order to be completed. The elapsed time to effect a solution was recorded. The completed programs were judged as correct, functionally correct with syntax errors, or incorrect; several reconstructive program comprehension measures were also collected and analyzed. The clear overall result was that subjects using the literate programs found a solution (correct or functionally correct with syntax errors) more often than did subjects using the traditional modular programs with embedded comments. In fact, none of the subjects in this study who modified the traditional programs were able to effect a solution that was totally correct, nor even one that was functionally correct with syntax errors.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/26566

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