If most or even some programming is done by simple methods, with the observed
behavioral differences being mostly
a product of the enviroment, then we ought to observe the following:
For some/most problems, there is no difference between experienced and novice
programmers -
there's no knowledge that the ant carries from beach to beach.
Furthermore, we ought to see little individual difference among programmers.
If methods are simple, everyone ought to be able to learn them with roughly equal ease.
In fact, the experimental results are just the opposite.
The differences between novices and experienced programmers,
or, even, across programmers who claim an equal number of years of experience,
are huge, far greater than in almost any other cogntive activity.
Furthermore, in most of the experimental studies, programmers were allowed little
access
to external documentation, so it isn't just an issue of an index to external memory.
There are definitely situations in which programmers do a lot of "rule based futzing"
until they've got
something to work, but these, I claim, are rare cases that tend to get
disproportionately remembered.
They occur when more global guidance fails. Most of the time, the programmer uses
global knowledge -
a schema or plan - to avoid a lot of local searching among transformation rules, just
the opposite of the alternative
Andrew Wallenstein offers.
In this view, a programmer may still write "first draft" code in which they use simple
algorithms and data strucutures
which they go back later and improve. In fact, the higher level plan is necessary to
know what to improve;
if a programmer achieves the effect of sorting by a bunch of local transformations,
without knowing that they have
constructed a sort, which is a higher level plan, they will have no way knowing which
part of their code to improve.
I note, as I did in the far distant past, that plans probably exists at several
different levels that form a heirarchy
that bridges between an application and the needed code.
Ruven Brooks
- Automatic footer for [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe discuss
To join the announcements list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe announce
To receive a help file, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] help
This list is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
If you have any problems or questions, please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
