Usability testing of a graphical programming system
Brigham Bell, John Rieman, Clayton Lewis · 1991
Traditional programminglanguage design has focussed on efficiency and expressiveness, with minimal attention to the ease with which a programmer can translate task requirements into statements in the language, a characteristic we call "facility."The programming walkthrough is a method for assessing the facility of a language design before implementation.We describe the method and its predictions for a graphical programming language, ChemTrains.These predictions are contrasted with protocols of subjects attempting to write their first ChemTrains program.We conclude that the walkthrough is a valuable aid at the design stage, but it is not infallible.Our results also suggest that it may not be enough for programmers to know how to solve a problem; they must also understand why the solution will succeed.