Assessing computer usage patterns in a software development course

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that measures computer usage patterns in a secondyear, programming-intensive computer science course. In the study, we augmented the compilation process to unobtrusively mail a copy of the compiler listing to a central location. We then analyzed these data relative to the number of compiles and their time distribution in order to characterize computer usage patterns among the students. Our results show little correlation between any particular usage pattern and the quality of the final product.