{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43839"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43839","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A comparison of the organizational strategies of multilingual computer programmers","abstract":"The objective of this study was to determine whether computer programmers would organize reserved words by programming language or by conceptual category, when given an opportunity to use either strategy. Twenty-seven participants, stratified by programming experience level (novice, intermediate, and expert), were given sixteen reserved words on index cards. The words were taken from four programming languages, as well as six conceptual categories. Participants were given both a recognition and a recall task. Organizing the words by conceptual category enabled the expert programmers to perform significantly better on the recall task than experts who organized by language. In addition, they made fewer recognition errors, and had more structured recall, in terms of recalling the words by the categories in which they were studied. Expert computer programmers, similar to natural language multilinguals, can recall more (reserved) words when they are organized by conceptual categories rather than by (programming) language. It is hypothesized that this is because human memory is organized in a fundamentally interdependent (across languages) manner in many domains other than natural language, such as computer programming.","abstract_html":"The objective of this study was to determine whether computer programmers would organize reserved words by programming language or by conceptual category, when given an opportunity to use either strategy. Twenty-seven participants, stratified by programming experience level (novice, intermediate, and expert), were given sixteen reserved words on index cards. The words were taken from four programming languages, as well as six conceptual categories. Participants were given both a recognition and a recall task. Organizing the words by conceptual category enabled the expert programmers to perform significantly better on the recall task than experts who organized by language. In addition, they made fewer recognition errors, and had more structured recall, in terms of recalling the words by the categories in which they were studied. Expert computer programmers, similar to natural language multilinguals, can recall more (reserved) words when they are organized by conceptual categories rather than by (programming) language. It is hypothesized that this is because human memory is organized in a fundamentally interdependent (across languages) manner in many domains other than natural language, such as computer programming.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cunningham, Lynn T."],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Curriculum and Instruction","degree_department":"Curriculum and Instruction","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Burton, John K."],"committee_members":["Dodl, Norman R.","Wildman, Terry M."],"year":1988,"date_issued":"1988-05-05","date_published":"1988-05-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:03Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-07212010-020253"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-07212010-020253","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/43839","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Burton, John K."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Dodl, Norman R.","Wildman, Terry M."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Curriculum and Instruction"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cunningham, Lynn T."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T21:40:58Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T21:40:58Z","2010-07-21"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1988-05-05"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Curriculum and Instruction"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-07212010-020253"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/43839"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The objective of this study was to determine whether computer programmers would organize reserved words by programming language or by conceptual category, when given an opportunity to use either strategy. 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