A controlled experiment to assess the benefits of procedure argument type checking (1998) [10 citations — 0 self]
|
Abstract:
Type checking is considered an important mechanism for detecting programming errors, especially interface errors. This report describes an experiment to assess the defect-detection capabilities of static, inter-module type checking. The experiment uses Ansi C and Kernighan&Ritchie (K&R) C. The relevant difference is that the Ansi C compiler checks module interfaces (i.e., the parameter lists of calls to external functions), whereas K&R C does not. The experiment employs a counterbalanced design in which each of the 40 subjects, most of them CS Ph.D. students, writes two non-trivial programs that interface with a complex library (Motif). Each subject writes one program in Ansi C and one in K&R C. The input to each compiler run is saved and manually analyzed for defects. Results indicate that delivered Ansi C programs contain significantly fewer interface defects than delivered K&R C programs. Furthermore, after subjects have gained some familiarity with the interface they are using, Ansi C programmers remove defects faster and are more productive (measured in both delivery time and functionality implemented).
