Reviews commonly accepted notions of information value from the perspective of a computer scientist and suggests the importance of using an economic commodity value approach as the most meaningful way to establish information value. Information value as use, as traffic, and as commodity are considered. (Contains 24 references.) (LRW)

Delineates the five skill areas needed to maximize computer competency--concept formation, comprehension, problem solving, study techniques, and occupational reading and employability skills. (CRH)

Discussion of the relationship between the academic computing community and the practitioner community focuses on the possible separation of software engineering as a distinct discipline from computer science. Relationships between the content of software engineering and the content of computing are examined, and implications for computer science…

Persistent conceptual bugs exist in how novices, from primary school to college age, program and understand programs. These bugs are not specific to a given programming language but appear to be language-independent. The three different classes of bugs are: (1) parallelism, the assumption that different lines in a program can be active at the same…

Examines design functions of present file organizations in the context of available data storage devices and identifies current developmental trends. (Author/RAA)

Offers an overview of issues pertaining to societal readiness to cope with the information explosion. The need for computer literacy, an examination of computers in education, and the role of the National Science Foundation in computer literacy programs are discussed. (MER)

Reviews the use of computers in Great Britain's educational system, and discusses the development of computer science education, computer assisted instruction, standardization of software and hardware, computer awareness, computers in school administration and teacher training, and future trends for educational computing. (RAO)

Presents overview of library uses of automation, noting the earliest example of a "black box" in 1588, the "indicator" invented in England in 1863, various forms of card catalogs, and computer solutions posed by Vannevar Bush, J. C. R. Licklider, Project Intrex, and John G. Kemeny. Ten references are cited. (EJS)

Part one of a two-part feature on computers includes: what a computer is, how a computer works, a miniunit to introduce computers into the curriculum, a kooky computer quiz, computer applications, examples of computer use in several schools, and information on computer careers. (KC)

Describes the Portable AI Lab, a computing environment containing artificial intelligence (AI) tools, examples, and documentation for use with university AI courses. Two modules of the lab are highlighted: the automated theorem proving module and the natural language processing module, which includes augmented transition networks. (23 references)…

Examines the cognitive effects of learning to program versus programming as it is experienced in introductory classes. Research studies that have analyzed the cognitive demands of programming are reviewed and criticized, problems of transfer of programming skills are discussed, and 42 references are provided. (LRW)

Examines two primary roles played by natural language processing in storage and retrieval of information and outlines organization of natural language interface for data retrieval (question-answering system) and approaches being taken to text analysis. Research issues in computational linguistics and interactive knowledge acquisition are…

Defines artificial intelligence (AI) and discusses its history; the current state of the art, research, experimentation, and practical applications; and probable future developments. Key dates in the history of AI and eight references are provided. (MBR)

Discusses the integration of instructional science and computer science. Topics addressed include motivation for building knowledge-based systems; instructional design issues, including cognitive models, representing student intentions, and student models and error diagnosis; representing tutoring knowledge; building a tutoring system, including…

Discussion of human-computer interaction (HCI) as an essential part of the design of computing systems focuses on incorporating HCI into university computing courses. HCI training needs for various career profiles are given; and an outline of the contents of the Open University postgraduate module on HCI is appended. (nine references) (LRW)