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This research compared the learning of an application program whose interface was implemented using buttons with text labels, icons, or a fully redundant combination of icons and text labels. The objective was to: 1) evaluate the success of novice computer users in initially learning to use the application and in later use in a delayed session and 2) measure users' attitudes toward the application. Each session was divided into four blocks, and performance in the blocks was measured in terms of correctness of the tasks performed, time to perform tasks, and number of times the help facility was accessed. In addition, at the end of each session the participants' perceptions of the ease of use and usefulness of the software were measured. The results showed that in the first session performance was best on the label-only and icon-label interfaces. Performance on the icon-only interface was much poorer in session 1, particularly in terms of time and help references, but improved in session 2 to the point where it approached the performance on the other interfaces. Retention of skill between the initial and the delayed session was worse for the icon-only interface, but the effect was short-lived. Perceptions of ease of use were consistently better for the icon-label interface than for the other two interfaces. Perceptions of usefulness were higher for the icon-only and icon-label interfaces than for the label-only interface in the first session. Perceptions of usefulness became more positive for the icon-only group in the delayed session, but did not change for the other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehension of computer programs involves identifying important program parts and inferring relationships between them. The ability to comprehend a computer program is a skill that begins its development in the novice programmer and roaches maturity in the expert programmer. This research examined the beginning of this process, that of comprehension of computer programs by novice programmers. The mental representations of the program text that novices form, which indicate the comprehension strategies being used, were examined. In the first study, 80 novice programmers were tested on their comprehension of short program segments. The results suggested that novices form detailed, concrete mental representations of the program text, supporting work that has previously been done with novice comprehension. Their mental representations were primarily procedural in nature, with little or no modeling using real-world referents. In a second study, the upper and lower quartile comprehenders from Study 1 were tested on their comprehension of a longer program. Results supported the conclusions from Study 1 in that the novices tended towards detailed representations of the program text with little real-world reference. However, the comprehension strategies used by high comprehenders differed substantially from those used by low comprehenders. Results indicated that the more advanced novices were using more abstract concepts in their representations, although their abstractions were detailed in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the learning of second and subsequent programming languages. Concept and construct of the programs; Minor problems of programmers on the syntax and semantics of subsequent languages; Programming language plans develop by the programmers.