Programming variability experiment [was: Re: Pointers to variables]

[Michael Scharf]

Randall Hopper wrote:
> How can I cause a reference to the variables to be stored in the tuples
> instead of their values?

Impressive! All four solutions look the same! 

This reminds me of an experiment I would like
to see:

- Take a few simple (scripting) problems.
- Give it to some (3,5,10,100 the more the better)
  programmers with different levels of experience.
- Let them write little programs and tell them
  they should find a simple solution
  (no optimization tricks, no unnecessary 
  generalizations etc.).
- Do this for different languages and compare
  the variability and readability (by letting a
  control group try to read and understand the
  code) of the solutions.

This would be another quality criterion for
languages. It would be also interesting how
the solutions of experienced programmers
differ from beginners (for one language).


Michael
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