Selecting the “right” programming language

Tharp, Alan L.

doi:10.1145/800066.801358

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Boom and Jong (1980) performed a critical comparison of multiple programming language implementations available on the CDC Cyber 73, including ALGOL 60, FORTRAN, Pascal, and ALGOL 68. Tharp (1982) also pointed out the variety of languages available, including FORTRAN, COBOL, Jovial, Ada, ALGOL, Pascal, Pl/I, and Spitbol. He discussed several recent comparisons of programming languages on the basis of their support of good software engineering practices, availability of control structures, the programmer time required for developing a representative non-numeric algorithm, and the machine resources expended in compiling and executing it.…”

Section: The 1980smentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of Computer Language Selection

Parker

Davey

2012

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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Abstract. This examines the history of computer language choice for both industry use and university programming courses. The study considers events in two developed countries and reveals themes that may be common in the language selection history of other developed nations. History shows a set of recurring problems for those involved in choosing languages. This study shows that those involved in the selection process can be informed by history when making those decisions.

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Section: The 1980smentioning

confidence: 99%

The History of Computer Language Selection

Parker

Davey

2012

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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“…The evaluator must consider the likelihood that their language questions will be answered (Cunningham, 2004) and should also take into account the availability of support through forums or listservs on the Internet, as well as vendor support (Tharp, 1982). The evaluator may want to consider the availability of other resources like teachers' guides, example programs, student workbooks, and programming assignments.…”

Section: Availability Of Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Formal Process for Programming Language Evaluation for Introductory Courses

Parker

Chao

Ottaway³

et al. 2006

InSITE Conference

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Executive SummaryThe selection of a programming language for introductory courses has long been an informal process involving faculty evaluation, discussion, and consensus. As the number of faculty, students, and language options grows, this process becomes increasingly unwieldy. As it stands, the process currently lacks structure and replicability. Establishing a structured approach to the selection of a programming language would enable a more thorough evaluation of the available options and a more easily supportable selection. Developing and documenting an instrument and a methodology for language selection will allow the process to be more easily repeated in the future.The objectives of this research are to: i) identify criteria for faculty use when selecting a computer programming language for an introductory course in computer programming; ii) develop an instrument that facilitates the assignment of weights to each of those selection criterion to determine their relative importance in the selection process, and; iii) allow various computer programming languages to be scored according to those selection criteria. A set of criteria for the selection of a programming language for introductory courses proposed in a previous paper is briefly reviewed here, with each criterion accompanied with a definition and justification. Readers are referred to the source paper for a complete discussion and literature review.In order to test the validity of these criteria a pilot study was conducted. That study revealed that the number of languages being evaluated by a respondent should be limited, and better guidance in the form of criterion explanation and rating guidance are necessary. Further, some users found the number of criteria daunting, and some of those criteria overlap, causing a language to be evaluated multiple times on what should be a single criterion. At the same a few additional criteria were proposed by study participants.As a result of these findings, instrument refinements were made. Evaluators are now restricted to assessing only languages with which they are quite familiar in order to address not only the issue of quantity, but also inadequate familiarMaterial published as part of this journal, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact Publisher@InformingScience.org to request redistribution permission. A Formal Language Selection Process 134ity. In addition, the selection criteria were analyzed and those with commonalities were grouped together, a...

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“…Choosing the best computer language for introducing students to programming is often an emotional issue, leading to protracted debates over the years [2][3][4][5][6], e.g. 1976: "The selection of languages for use as pedagogical aids in the teaching of computer science is still a big issue at most universities."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

Goosen

2008

History of Computing and Education 3 (HCE3)

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Choosing the best computer language for introducing students to programming is often an emotional issue, leading to protracted debates for many years. This paper aims to document how the development of programming languages has influenced the educational processes of choosing an introductory language since the early days of computing, by exploring some of the "programming languages that have been selected over the last couple of decades and the rational for those selections". [1]

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Selecting the “right” programming language

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

The History of Computer Language Selection

The History of Computer Language Selection

A Formal Process for Programming Language Evaluation for Introductory Courses

A Brief History of Choosing First Programming Languages

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