Comments, with reply, on ´Structured flowcharts outperform pseudocode: an experimental comparison´ by D.A. Scanlan

The commenter argues that the author of the above article (ibid., vol.6, no.5, p.28-36, 1989) could reduce the standard deviation in his results if he separated his subjects into ´left-brained´ and ´right-brained´ groups. He bases his argument on the fact that a flowchart is a two-dimensional representation of a procedure, a verbal or encoded description is one-dimensional (even with the indentations used to make it more like a two-dimensional object). This additional dimension makes it much easier to see relations that are not strictly sequential and also allows for parallel processing, which the human brain is particularly good at.<>