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Software presents an unusual set of problems for policy makers. As a major global industry, it has been successfully targeted by a growing number of countries for its potential to generate export revenue. At the same time, it is an essential, high‐risk, and increasingly expensive component of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)‐related programs to increase government effectiveness and to bring local firms in other industries up to globally competitive performance levels. This paper outlines the range of considerations specific to software within ICT planning and discusses government's role in accelerating and shaping that growth in support of social and economic priorities. We draw on the experience of both developed and emerging economies to argue that government should take an active role in software industry development, and to lay out the full range of possible government actions (both policies and programs). Every country's path seems to be different – the best course of action will depend on the resources available (including infrastructure and human resources), on the state of the global software industry at that specific time, and on the country's unique situation, such as languages spoken, regional or cultural ties with major markets, a tradition of entrepreneurship, or an expatriate business community.

A BASIC Instructional Program is being developed as a vehicle for research in tutorial modes of computer-assisted instruction (CAD. Several design features will be appropriate to training in other technical areas and applicable in other instructional settings where the development of analytic and problem-solving skills is a goal.Methods are incorporated for monitoring and aiding the student as he works on programming problems in the BASIC language. The instructional program developed can be used to investigate schemes for optimizing problem presentation and giving assistance during problem-solving based on a model of the student's abilities and difficulties. Previous experience in the instructional and technical aspects of teaching a programming language indicates that a course in computer programming can be designed to help the student acquire programming concepts in a personalized and efficient manner as he develops skills at increasingly advanced levels.This article reports on work currently in progress and briefly summarizes observations and conclusions based on operation during the pilot year.A major goal of the research project is to increase the sophistication with which the instructional program monitors the student's work and responds to it with appropriate hints and prompts. One aspect of such work is the utilization of algorithms for checking the correctness of a student procedure. Limited but sufficient program verification is possible through simulated execution of the program on test data stored with each problem. Within the controllable context of instruction, where the problems to be solved are predetermined and their solutions known, simulated execution of the student's program can effectively determine its closeness to a stored model solution.The BASIC Instructional Program (BIP) is written in SAIL (VanLehn, 1973;Swinehart and Sproull, 1971), a versatile, ALGOL-like language, implemented exclusively at present on the DEC P D P -1 0 computer. SAIL includes a flexible associative sublanguage called LEAP (Feldman et al., 1972), which was used extensively to build BIP's information network. The course is now running on the P D P -1 0 TENEX timesharing system at the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences. It *This research is funded by Personnel Training and Research Programs, Office of Naval Research. During these developmental months, we have received considerable cooperation from the staffs of the pilot institutions, notably Professor Carl Grame of DeAnza College and Dr. Paul Lorton, Jr. of the University of San Francisco.

The BASIC Instructional Program (ElP) was developed to investigate tutorial modes of interaction in computer-assisted instruction (CAT). BIF is a problem-solving laboratory that helps students while they are solving introductory programming problems in the BASIC language. The problems are presented in an individualized sequence based on a representation of the structure of the curriculum and a model of the stUdent's state of knowledge. This paper describes the RIP system, with emphasis on .recen'tly developed features. The goal of the tutorial laboratory is infonnative interaction with the stUdent, which is provided by an instructional BASIC interpreter, information on BASIC syntax cross-referenced with the BIP student manual, and debugging aids. The system also has access through the curriculum representation to features that the student may use to help her solve her current problem. These features include hints, ea.sier Its ubtasks ," a stored solution that can itself be executed, and an interactive flow chart representation of the solution. The nature of the student-BIP interaction is captured in an annotated student dialogue of a typical session.