Almost alike programs
Robert N. Chanon · 1966
As a part of the introductory computation course at Carnegie Tech, each student is asked to debug algorithms for solving several problems using the ALGOL translator on the CDC G-21 computer system. When the student feels that he has a correctly running program, he hands it in, and then the entire batch of programs submitted for the problem is run with different data than was available for the debugging runs. The results of this run are then returned to the recitation instructors who grade the programs and return them to the students. Unfortunately, very little is known about the ways in which S205 students write their programs, i.e., the “programming technique” they use in their programs. We have no way of knowing how many students use for statements and procedures in their programs rather than simple loops and code repetitions, without explicitly examining each program. Clearly, information of this sort would be useful to the instructor both as an aid to his teaching, and as an aid to composing the TEACH problems.