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The Effect of Previous Software Development Experience on Understanding the Object-Oriented Paradigm
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, City UniversityNorthampton Square, United Kingdom ; , Advanced Information Technology, United Kingdom

JCMST Volume 18, Number 3, ISSN 0731-9258 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA

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Abstract

This paper discusses results of a survey to gain insight into the relationship between the acquisition of Object Technology (OT) concepts and previous software development experience. A survey of professional software engineers who had just completed a postgraduate OT course was undertaken, eliciting data about their previous experience of software development, and their perception of the difficulty of course topics and the level of understanding they attained. Five hundred and ten responses were received over a two-year period. These were analysed to establish which course topics were the hardest and the easiest, and any correlation between various dimensions of previous experience and the successful acquisition of OT concepts. The results indicate that the fundamental concepts of OT and the management of OT projects are not difficult to understand, while analysis and design topics are harder. In addition, experience of "traditional" structured and procedural approaches to development have a significant positive transfer effect which outweighs the effect of any object-oriented or object-oriented-related experience, and is substantially more helpful than having no development experience at all.

Citation

Sharp, H. & Griffyth, J. (1999). The Effect of Previous Software Development Experience on Understanding the Object-Oriented Paradigm. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 18(3), 245-265. Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved August 11, 2024 from .

© 1999 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

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