Cognitive correlates of programming tasks in novice programmers

Abstract

The study presented here had two primary goals. First, to identify a set of subtasks which constitute a typology of the task of computer programming—specifically, the task structure of FORTRAN programming as perceived by novice programmers; second, to assess the relationship between individual differences in cognitive functioning (human information-processing characteristics) and performance on the perceived programming subtasks. The criterion instrument was a 77-item test of programming skill and knowledge, arranged by sections of homogeneous items. Each section included items representing one of three major subtask categories (composition, comprehension and debugging). Skill and knowledge acquisition was not studied as this would have required a longitudinal study. Likewise, program modification was omitted as Schneiderman and Mayer have defined it as an amalgam of the three primary tasks.