Cognitive fit: an empirical study of recursion and iteration

Author

Sinha, Atish P. ; Vessey, Iris

Author_Institution

Dept. of MIS & Decision Sci., Dayton Univ., OH, USA

Volume

18

Issue

5

fYear

1992

fDate

5/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

368

Lastpage

379

Abstract

A laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the basic theory and extensions to the theory for recursive tasks across programming languages. The experiment used 34 LISP and 48 PASCAL computer science students in two repeated measures designs. Findings of the study are reported and analyzed. The results strongly suggest that investigation of programming constructs should take place in the context of specific programming languages. Since a number of languages provide similar kinds of programming constructs, it is difficult for programmers to choose those implementations that best suit their needs. One way of encouraging the use of desirable constructs would be to develop languages adapted to certain types of tasks. Such an approach would inherently lead to cognitive fit and the attendant performance benefits would be realized

Keywords

LISP; Pascal; human factors; programming; programming theory; recursive functions; LISP; PASCAL computer science students; basic theory; cognitive fit; laboratory experiment; performance benefits; programming constructs; programming languages; recursive tasks; repeated measures designs; specific programming languages; Availability; Cognitive science; Computer languages; Computer science; Iris; Iterative algorithms; Laboratories; Mathematical programming; Problem-solving; Programming profession;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-5589

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/32.135770

Filename

135770