This paper discusses and provides some preliminary data on errors in APL programming. Data were obtained by analyzing listings of 148 complete and partial APL sessions collected from student terminal rooms at the University of Alberta. Frequencies of errors for the various error messages are tabulated. The data, however, are limited because they…

After consideration of two recent examples of instruction sets for microprogramable computers, the article sketches known and new results about complete sets of functions which appear to be applicable to microlanguage development. Some needed areas of research are pointed out. Functional completeness is linked to research in control primitives for…

Reports on a survey of universities in the United States which offer computer science graduate programs. Summarizes findings relating to the general attributes of responding universities, hardware and software resources, graduate student entry requirements, and courses of study. (TW)

This paper discusses five points related to developmental research on children learning to do Logo programming: (1) systematic developmental research documenting what children are learning as they learn to program is necessary; (2) Logo is cognitively complex beyond its early steps and difficult to learn without instructional guidance; (3) the…

An experimental group of undergraduate business students was taught introductory COBOL programing in a student teams situation. Proficiency was generally higher for the experimental group than for the control, especially in writing programs. (GDC)

The paper gives a brief overview of several 'traditional' approaches to computer-assisted instruction (CAI). A new CAI language is then described which allows the user to write programs which generate both questions and answers with a minimum of programming effort. An implementation of the described system is discussed in detail, followed by a…

This manual describes the LOGO system implemented for the PDP 11/45 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The "system" includes a LOGO evaluator, a dedicated time-sharing system, and various special devices related to output such as robot turtles, tone generators, and cathode ray tube displays. (Author/SD)

This manual provides a brief description of the primitives in the computer language PDP 11 LOGO. It is intended to provide a quick reference for users who are familiar with the basics of the LOGO language. (Author/SD)

This manual provides brief descriptions of the primitives and is the PDP11 implementation of the LOGO language. It is intended as a quick reference for users familiar with the LOGO language. (SD)

In order to determine the knowledge and skills needed by novice programmers to successfully learn computer programming, four studies were conducted using a clinical interview technique. The first study determined that many systematic errors in programming were due to programmers' high-level misconceptions of the nature of the computer and of the…

In an attempt to overcome the lack of natural means of communication between student and computer, this thesis addresses the problem of developing a system which can understand natural language within an educational problem-solving environment. The nature of the environment imposes efficiency, habitability, self-teachability, and awareness of…

Reports results of two studies that compared the introduction of procedural (exemplified by Pascal) and declarative (exemplified by Prolog) programing languages to Italian secondary school students. Discussion covers learning approaches and problems, mental models, programing techniques, programing environments, and educational applications. (27…

Four conference papers are reviewed in this introduction to a symposium. The first paper is by Clements and Merriman, who make a case for the reflection of Steinberg's information processing componential model of cognitive processes in the LOGO language and computational environment; present a series of experiments that attempted to tailor the…

Two exploratory experiments compared the way people with no experience in the use of computer systems write and carry out natural language procedures, natural language descriptions, and instructions expressed in an artificial restricted syntax language. The results suggest the there is no single "natural" way that people write simple plans and…

LISP LOGO is a computer language invented for the beginning student of man-machine interaction. The language has the advantages of simplicity and naturalness as well as that of emphasizing the difference between programs and data. The language is based on the LOGO language and uses mnemonic syllables as commands. It can be used in conjunction with…