The Effect Of A User'S First Programming Language On Their Ability To Program Overall
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Math and Computer Science
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Written Paper Award
2nd Place
Abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not a programmer’s first programming language had an effect on their interpretation of the language. It was hypothesized that the users learning Javascript would perform better on the final test than those that learned Ruby or Python. This was tested by using Codecademy.com to teach all of the 30 subjects the languages randomly assigned to them. After taking a few weeks to learn the languages, the subjects were then given a final test that was formatted the same but had different questions for each language. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was run at an alpha value of 0.05, and it was found that a user’s FPL did not have an effect on their ability to program. The p value (0.547) was greater than the alpha, thus suggesting there is no significant difference between the means. This greatly helps the computer programming world, because it tells us that there is no need to worry so much over what programming language someone learns first, as it has no significant effect on what they will be able to learn, or what is easier for them to learn.
Recommended Citation
Carlton, Preston, "The Effect Of A User'S First Programming Language On Their Ability To Program Overall" (2016). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 250.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2016/all/250
Location
Owens 204
Start Date
4-16-2016 8:45 AM
The Effect Of A User'S First Programming Language On Their Ability To Program Overall
Owens 204
The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not a programmer’s first programming language had an effect on their interpretation of the language. It was hypothesized that the users learning Javascript would perform better on the final test than those that learned Ruby or Python. This was tested by using Codecademy.com to teach all of the 30 subjects the languages randomly assigned to them. After taking a few weeks to learn the languages, the subjects were then given a final test that was formatted the same but had different questions for each language. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was run at an alpha value of 0.05, and it was found that a user’s FPL did not have an effect on their ability to program. The p value (0.547) was greater than the alpha, thus suggesting there is no significant difference between the means. This greatly helps the computer programming world, because it tells us that there is no need to worry so much over what programming language someone learns first, as it has no significant effect on what they will be able to learn, or what is easier for them to learn.
