The extent of empirical evidence that could inform evidence-based design of programming languages : a systematic mapping study

Concept Analysis in Programming Language Research : Done Well It Is All Right

Programming language research is becoming method conscious. Rigorous mathematical or empirical evaluation is often demanded, which is a good thing. However, I argue in this essay that concept analysis is a legitimate research approach in programming languages, with important limitations. It can be used to sharpen vague concepts, and to expose distinctions that have previously been overlooked, but it does not demonstrate the superiority of one language design over another. Arguments and counter-arguments are essential to successful concept analysis, and such thoughtful conversations should be published more. peerReviewed

Usability of Programming Languages

Programming languages form the interface between programmers (the users) and the computation that they desire the computer to execute. Although studies exist for some aspects of programming language design (such as conditionals), other aspects have received little or no human factors evaluations. Designers thus have little they can rely on if they want to make new languages highly usable, and users cannot easily chose a language based on usability criteria. This SIG will bring together researchers and practitioners interested in increasing the depth and breadth of studies on the usability of programming languages, and ultimately in improving the usability of future languages. nonPeerReviewed

LaTeX ja AMS-LaTeX : opus asiatekstin ladonnasta

Teaching master's degree students to read research literature

The skill to read research literature critically belongs in every university graduate’s toolbox. I have attempted to teach this skill in a master’s degree level course in programming languages over 15 years using, at various times, simulated conferences, voluntary reading exercises, evidence-based practice training, and a flipped classroom with mandatory reading assignments. I discuss my experience and analyze preliminary qualitative data on the use of evidence-based practice and a flipped classroom for this purpose. I present no firm conclusions, but expect that future work (by me or others) will be able to use my experience as a baseline for better teaching of research literature reading.…

Fixed versus Growth Mindset Does not Seem to Matter Much

Psychology predicts that a student’s mindset—their implicit theory of intelligence—has an effect on their academic performance. We attempted to corroborate this in the computer science education context by asking the students on two bachelor-level courses, typically taken in the third year of studies, to fill out a standard mindset questionnaire, and analyzing their answers in relation to their grades on those courses. In a sample of 133 students, with only 24 (18 %) students with a clear fixed mindset, there is no detectable correlation between the students’ mindsets and their course grades. An ordinal logistic regression estimates, at the 95 % confidence level, a statistically nonsignific…

Muistinhallinta siivousmenetelmien avulla

Tämä LuK-tutkielma käsittelee muistinhallintaa siivousmenetelmien näkökulmasta. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan muistinsiivouksen menetelmiä erityisen muistinhallinnan abstraktin mallin antamassa kontekstissa.

The formal method known as B and a sketch for its implementation

Evidence-based programming language design : a philosophical and methodological exploration

Background: Programming language design is not usually informed by empirical studies. In other fields similar problems have inspired an evidence-based paradigm of practice. Such a paradigm is practically inevitable in language design, as well. Aims: The content of evidence-based programming design (EB-PLD) is explored, as is the concept of evidence in general. Additionally, the extent of evidence potentially useful for EB-PLD is mapped, and the appropriateness of Cohen’s kappa for evaluating coder agreement in a secondary study is evaluated. Method: Philosophical analysis and explication are used to clarify the unclear. A systematic mapping study was conducted to map out the existing body of…