Curtis, B., Sheppard, S.B., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. & Boehm-Davis, D.A. (1989). Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2), 167-207.  Home/Search   Document Not in Database   Summary   Related Articles   Check

....control flow of conditional logic. Similar results have occurred in studies of programming students by Vessey and Weber (1986) and by Cunniff and Taylor (1987) In contrast, no studies have shown flowcharts having a practical advantage over text across the full range of programming activities. Curtis et al. 1989) studied the flowchart in its historical role as a notation supplemental to textual code (i.e. as a form of design and or program documentation) They identified two dimensions (symbology and spatial arrangement) capable of categorizing a wide range of notations. The symbology dimension measures ....

Curtis, B., Sheppard, S.B., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. & Boehm-Davis, D.A. (1989). Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2), 167-207.

....are self documenting, practical experience suggests that this is only true for small programs. Large programs invariably need documentation. Instead of a vague, natural language paraphrasing of the program, Parnas proposes a precise mathematical formulation of its function. Curtis, et al. [2] provided empirical evidence that documentation written in natural language is not as helpful in program comprehension as documentation written in symbolic language. Their results show that this is true with regards to answering questions that needed backward or forward tracing of the program. The ....

Bill Curtis, Sylvia Sheppard, Elizabeth KruesiBailey, John Bailey, and Deborah Boehm-Davis. Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2):167--207, Feb. 1989.

....the languages. To bring out their differences, we shall do so by exhibiting their differing solutions to a single problem; the following section then presents the cognitive dimensions and critiques the languages. The problem we shall use as a yardstick is taken from a paper by Curtis et al. [3] which compared the comprehensibility of a wide variety of design choices for notations. These authors formed the conclusion that their text based versions were superior to their graphical ones; however, their graphical notations were based on the flowchart, rather than the modern dataflow ....

Curtis, B., Sheppard, S., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. and Boehm-Davis, D. Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. J. Systems and Software,1989, 9 (2), 167-207.

....to many other types of design activity. Styles A good classification of VP languages needs more than one dimension [1] but here are some samples. i) The control flow model: executable flowcharts have declined in popularity deservedly so, according to Curtis et al. s well controlled study [3] but R technology , developed in the former Soviet Union, offers an intriguing blend of graphical elements for control with Pascal like elements for declarations and formulas, with 500 active users in 1989 [9] ii) In the data flow model, data travels from input sources to operators and ....

Curtis, B., Sheppard, S., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. and Boehm-Davis, D. (1989) Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. J. Systems and Software, 9 (2), 167-207. Excellent paper-based study; no advantage for graphical formats.

....while LabVIEW is not. We shall use the contrast with Basic to highlight some of the contrasts between textual languages and this class of VPLs. To bring out their various differences, we shall present their differing solutions to a yardstick problem taken from a paper by Curtis et al. [13] which compared the comprehensibility of a wide variety of design choices for notations. These authors formed the conclusion that their text based versions were superior to their graphical ones; however, their graphical notations were based on the flowchart, rather than the modern dataflow ....

....after 100 seconds. It rises vertically for 10 seconds after which it adopts and retains an angle of 0.3941 radians (22.5 degrees) to the vertical. The downwards acceleration of gravity is 32 feet sec 2 . Figure 1: The Rocket Program specification. Deduced from programs given by Curtis et al. [13]. 13 4.1 Basic Basic is probably still the commonest end user programming language or rather, it is no single language, but a family of closely related dialects and versions. Older readers will remember (nostalgically ) the days when lines were numbered and programs burst their sides with ....

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Curtis, B., Sheppard, S., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. and Boehm-Davis, D. (1989) Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. J. Systems and Software, 9 (2), 167-207. 43

....of a yardstick program, following that is an overview of PrologSpace, then there is the evaluation. Finally we draw some conclusions. 2 A yardstick: The Rocket Program The Rocket program was used by Green and Petre in their comparative study [7] and was earlier used by Curtis et al. [2] in a study of flowcharts and related notations. It is a small and simple program but which nevertheless is suitable for assessing important aspects of programming systems. The specification is reproduced below: The rocket program computes the vertical and horizontal trajectory of a rocket on ....

B Curtis, S Sheppard, E Kruesi-Bailey, and D Boehm-Davis. Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2):167--207, 1989.

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B. Curtis, S. B. Sheppard, E. Kruesi-Bailey, J. Bailey, and D. A. Boehm-Davis. Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2):167--207, February 1989.

No context found.

B. Curtis, S.B. Sheppard, E. Kruesi-Bailey, J. Bailey, and D.A. Boehm-Davis. Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. Journal of Systems and Software, 9(2):167--207, February 1989.

No context found.

Ergonomics, 23, 1057-1091. Curtis, B., Sheppard, S., Kruesi-Bailey, E., Bailey, J. and Boehm-Davis, D. (1989) Experimental evaluation of software documentation formats. J. Systems and Software, 9 (2), 167-207.

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