Python Productivity Gain?

[Terry Reedy]

"Harry George" <harry.g.george at boeing.com> wrote in message
news:xqxbrnvbhvk.fsf at cola2.ca.boeing.com...
> It is common for a ComSci prof or grad student to crank up such a
> study, using undergrad and grad students as the subjects.  These
> subjects can generally be coerced to participate ("it is required for
> the course").  For "novice programmer" research, high school students
> are often used.  These tend to be self-selected, and ar not
> representative for the general population.

The key feature that makes a study/experiment statistically analyzable is
randomization of subjects to treatments.  So, to compare two languages
(simplest case), you have everyone write programs in both languages, but
randomize the order (half one way, the other half the other way) or you
have one half do language A and the other half B, again randomizing the
assigment.  Also, if there is any subjectivity in the evaluation of
results, then the judges should not know the language when judging the
output.

Do the studies you speak of meet these criteria?

Terry J. Reedy