A Goal/Plan Analysis of Buggy Pascal Programs

Bibliographic Data

ID15216149
AuthorsJames C Spohrer, Jim Spohrer (0000-0002-9864-2735, Yale University, corresponding author), Elliot Soloway (0000-0002-5724-1556, Yale University), Edgar Pope (Yale University)
Year1985
Volume1
Issue2
Pages163-207
Publication date1985-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman-Computer Interaction (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0737-0024 • E-ISSN: 1532-7051
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1207/s15327051hci0102_4
OpenAlexW2014132843
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited4

In this paper, we present a descriptive theory of buggy novice programs and a bug categorization scheme that is based on this theory. Central to this theory is the cognitively plausible knowledge - goals and plans - that underlies programming. The bug categorization scheme makes explicit problem-dependent goal and plan knowledge at many different levels of detail. We provide several examples of how the scheme permits us to focus on bugs in a way that facilitates generating plausible accounts of why the bugs may have arisen. In particular, our approach has led us to one explanation of why some novice programs are buggier than others. A basic part of this explanation is the notion of merged goals and merged plans in which a single integrated plan is used to achieve multiple goals

Categorization · Data science · Focus (optics · Pascal (unit · Plan (archaeology · Programming language · Scheme (mathematics · Software engineering · Computer Science · Mathematics · Software Engineering Research · Software Testing and Debugging Techniques · Teaching and Learning Programming · Artificial Intelligence

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