Characteristic errors in programming languages

Authors:
J. D. Gannon
Affiliations:
-
Venue:
ACM '78 Proceedings of the 1978 annual conference - Volume 2
Year:
1978

Citing 6
Cited 0

Toward a discipline of real-time programming

Communications of the ACM
An experimental evaluation of data type conventions

Communications of the ACM
Program development by stepwise refinement

Communications of the ACM
Techniques of Program Structure and Design

Techniques of Program Structure and Design
Structured Programming; Theory and Practice the Systems Programming Series

Structured Programming; Theory and Practice the Systems Programming Series
IF-THEN-ELSE considered harmful

ACM SIGPLAN Notices

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

This paper examines the features of a small ALGOL-like language for characteristic errors. These errors occur in the general use of a language feature, rather than its use in a particular program. Language design and defensive programming are suggested as ways of dealing with these errors. Data collected in observing 33 subjects writing small (43-216 lines), but sophisticated programs demonstrate that these errors are both frequent and persistent in the development of programs.