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Cognitive perspectives on the role of naming in computer programs
- In Proc. of the 18th Annual Psychology of Programming Workshop
, 2006
"... Abstract. Programming a computer is a complex, cognitively rich process. This paper examines ways in which human cognition is reflected in the text of computer programs. We concentrate on naming: the assignment of identifying labels to programmatic constructs. Naming is arbitrary, yet programmers do ..."
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Cited by 27 (2 self)
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Abstract. Programming a computer is a complex, cognitively rich process. This paper examines ways in which human cognition is reflected in the text of computer programs. We concentrate on naming: the assignment of identifying labels to programmatic constructs. Naming is arbitrary, yet programmers do not select names arbitrarily. Rather, programmers choose and use names in regular, systematic ways that reflect deep cognitive and linguistic influences. This, in turn, allows names to carry semantic cues that aid in program understanding and support the larger software development process. 1
Formal Definitions and Theory—Semantics General Terms
"... This paper describes an executable formal semantics of C. Being executable, the semantics has been thoroughly tested against the GCC torture test suite and successfully passes 99.2 % of 776 test programs. It is the most complete and thoroughly tested formal definition of C to date. The semantics yie ..."
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This paper describes an executable formal semantics of C. Being executable, the semantics has been thoroughly tested against the GCC torture test suite and successfully passes 99.2 % of 776 test programs. It is the most complete and thoroughly tested formal definition of C to date. The semantics yields an interpreter, debugger, state space search tool, and model checker “for free”. The semantics is shown capable of automatically finding program errors, both statically and at runtime. It is also used to enumerate nondeterministic behavior.
First published in CVu vol. 21 no.?
"... When writing software a common requirement is for the execution of some sequence of statements to depend on a variable having a particular value. Programming languages provide various constructs to support this requirement, e.g., the if-statement (which often supports checking against a single value ..."
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When writing software a common requirement is for the execution of some sequence of statements to depend on a variable having a particular value. Programming languages provide various constructs to support this requirement, e.g., the if-statement (which often supports checking against a single value) and the switchstatement (which supports the checking against a set of values). Measurements show that approximately
First published in CVu vol. 19 no. x
"... Developer beliefs about binary operator precedence (part 2 of 2) ..."
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Forms of language specification Examples from commonly used computer languages
"... A programming language specification has to define all of the constructs it supports and their possible behaviors. There are a variety of different structural forms that can be used in a specification to enumerate these constructs and express their behaviors. This paper discusses the different struc ..."
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A programming language specification has to define all of the constructs it supports and their possible behaviors. There are a variety of different structural forms that can be used in a specification to enumerate these constructs and express their behaviors. This paper discusses the different structural forms that have been used to specify some of the programming