A new approach to teaching COBOL allows the student to test his program on the first or second day of class. (Author/IRT)

Presents data on COBOL syntactical error frequencies and an approach that instructors may use to assist students to avoid errors while learning the COBOL language. (Author)

Presents a collection of short items, including: (1) a routine to watch while computer processing occurs; (2) a MSBASIC-to-WORDSTAR translator; (3) an easy by-column printout; and (4) a selection of one-line functions, such as automatic string centering. (JN)

Discusses a survey on the major problems a college or university is likely to encounter when attempting to integrate computer applications into the business curriculum and a comprehensive plan for such an integration. (Author/IRT)

DELPHI, a time-sharing system developed specifically for introducing engineering students to sound programing principles and practice, is described in terms of user environment, languages, system architecture, and operation. (DT)

Reports on the understanding and use of time-sharing computer instruction in four small institutions: Hood, St. Joseph, Mount St. Mary's and Mount St. Agnes Colleges. Instruction was provided by personnel of the National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland. (AD)

Presents test cases to adequately test the "triangle program" described in part 1 (appearing in volume 42 of this journal). Discusses test case design and design techniques, differentiating between testing (showing that errors present) and debugging (finding where/what errors are and correcting them). Suggests testing be incorporated into…

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…

A formalist approach to the teaching of computer languages in programs leading to associate degrees in computer related technologies is described and advocated. (SD)

Reviews experiences in teaching computer programing to engineering freshmen at the University of Oklahoma. Focuses on the stimulating interactive environment that is possible when using the UNIX operating system to introduce students to programing. (JN)

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)

A process model to explain bugs produced by novices early in a programming course are presented. (The term "bug" refers to an error in a person's behavior, particularly an error in a computer program they have written.) The model is motivated by interviews of novice programmers solving simple programming problems. The key idea is that…

A discussion of computer errors and round-offs is given with the conclusion that attempts to get rid of these almost always result in generating more errors. (MN)

A light box is an apparatus designed to show the logical states of the User Port Pins of a PET microcomputer. Details of this aspect of computer studies are provided to introduce students to the possibilities of microprocessor control. Details of PET User Port interface and sample programs are included. (Author/JN)