Two exploratory experiments were conducted at System Development Corporation to compare debugging performance of programmers working under conditions of online and ofFline access to a computer. These are the first known studies that measure programmers' performance under controlled conditions for standard tasks.Staflstically significant results of both experiments indicated faster debugging under online conditions, but perhaps the most important practical finding involves the striking individual differences in programmer performance. Methodological problems encountered in designing and conducting these experiments are described; limitations of the findings are pointed out; hypotheses are presented to account for results; and suggestions are made for further research.KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: online vs. offline performance, programmer/ computer communication, progromming experimental-empiricol studies, programming cost effectiveness, programming performance, debugging effectiveness, time sharing vs. batch processing, factor analysis opplication, programmer trainee performance, basic programming knowledge test, experienced programmer study, analysis of variance, progrommer individual differences CR CATEGORIES: 2.40
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