Comparison of an object-oriented programming language to a procedural programming language for effectiveness in program maintenance

New software tools and methodologies make claims that managers often believe intuitively without evidence. Many unsupported claims have been made about object-oriented programming. However, without rigorous scientific evidence, it is impossible to accept these claims as valid. Although experimentation has been done in the past, most of the research is very recent and the most relevant research has serious drawbacks. This study attempts to empirically verify the claim that object-oriented languages produce programs that are more easily maintained than those programmed with procedural languages. Measurements of subjects performing maintenance tasks onto two identical programs, one object-oriented and the other procedure-oriented show the object-oriented version to be more maintainable.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science and Applications

Department dc:contributor.department

Computer Science and Applications

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1988

Author dc:creator

• Humphrey, Matthew Cameron

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Henry, Sallie M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hartson, H. Rex
• Hix, Deborah S.
• Kafura, Dennis G.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-10132010-020108

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/45161