Planned programming problem gotchas as lessons in requirements engineering

The term “gotcha” is used to describe an unforeseen exception or complexity in a programming assignment given to students. All too often, the students´ discovering gotchas in a programming assignment embarrasses the instructor into revising the assignment. This paper argues that students´ discovery of gotchas should be encouraged to promote experiential learning of the value and necessity of requirements engineering. Rather than viewing the discovery experience as a misfortune, an instructor should welcome the experience and even plan assignments with an abundance of gotchas to be discovered by students.