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A study of factors influencing adoption of a first programming language in introductory computer science courses in North Carolina four-year colleges and universities
Abstract
This study focused on the selection of programming languages in Computer Programming I classes (CS1) in four-year colleges and universities from North Carolina. The objectives were to identify differences in faculty and student views about the programming languages used in the first computer programming class and to see if demographic variables as well as type of school, job market in the region, quality and amount of experience with programming languages and/or computers correlated with the selection of the language. The study also solicited judgements about important factors for choosing a particular programming language and reasons which seemed to have influenced this selection. The study also determined how well the students and faculty in these first computer programming classes agreed on the selection of the languages and the factors which led to the selection. Three instruments were used to accomplish the above objectives. One was a survey questionnaire sent to twenty four-year colleges and universities in North Carolina in May 1993. Second was a survey questionnaire administered to 322 students from Computer Programming I from these schools in North Carolina during Spring and Fall semesters of 1993. Third was an open-ended interview of 20 faculty. Results of the student survey questionnaire showed that Pascal was the language respondents had the most experience with, and it was the most heavily used language among them, followed by BASIC, COBOL, and C/C++. The top three reasons for learning these languages were: job market demands, someone's advice, and popularity of the language. If the students were given a chance of learning a first programming language all over again, their number one choice would be Pascal followed by C/C++. The top three reasons for this selection were that the language was used in the other computer science courses, they wanted to learn the language, and it was an easy language to learn. Results of the faculty survey questionnaire showed that Pascal was the most widely taught first and second programming language, and C/C++ would be their number one choice for a new first programming language when and if they were going to make another selection. Job market requirements, design and structure of a language that implements modularity, concurrency, reusable code, and competition from other area schools were the top reasons in the selection process of a first programming language. Examination of some variables as possible predictors of these first programming languages revealed the following: (1) strong correlation between the selection of a first programming language and such factors as compiler cost, compiler availability, teaching staff knowledge, hardware availability, and cost of a language; (2) strong correlation between the type of a school and such factors as ability of a language to form good programming habits, availability of the language, modularity, parameters, ease of design and structure of the language, and a language which provides job related skills, and is usable in the real world. The follow-up interviews seemed to show that a significant number of faculty had been thinking about changing to a new first programming language. In other words, the Pascal era was going to end soon, and a replacement for Pascal was going to be either C or C++. It was also clear that most of the faculty were trying to follow the ACM guidelines whether or not they agreed with them.
Subject Area
Higher education|Mathematics education|Science education|Computer science
Recommended Citation
Shimpi, Lalchand Tukaram, "A study of factors influencing adoption of a first programming language in introductory computer science courses in North Carolina four-year colleges and universities" (1995). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9524748.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9524748