Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED!nerds-end From: glen herrmannsfeldt Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: parsability and human factors Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 10:32:55 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 31 Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <15-02-016@comp.compilers> References: <10-11-017@comp.compilers> <15-02-009@comp.compilers> <15-02-011@comp.compilers> <15-02-013@comp.compilers> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.iecc.com X-Trace: miucha.iecc.com 1423412660 26995 2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970 (8 Feb 2015 16:24:20 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iecc.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2015 16:24:20 +0000 (UTC) Keywords: syntax,design Posted-Date: 08 Feb 2015 11:24:20 EST X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:1518 Derek M. Jones wrote: (snip, I wrote) >> I went to a talk, not so long ago, by someone actually studying people >> using computer languages. It seems that many people who write papers >> about how easy or hard they are to use don't actually do any tests >> with real people. > Yes, plenty of arm waving and personal opinions abound. OK, here it is: The talk was titled "The Programming Language Wars". http://web.cs.unlv.edu/stefika/Papers.php is a list of some of the papers by the author, and paper number 7 is one people might find interesting. The authorization system doesn't allow one to copy the link, but if you go to the page you should be able to read it, even without an ACM account. There is very little research into how people actually use features in programming languages, though all designers seem to already know without studying. He did actual tests with both experienced and new programmers. -- glen