johnl@ima.UUCP (Compilers mailing list) (03/17/86)
Question for mod.compilers: Has there been any formal work on what programming language constructs are more error-prone than others? Is there some kind of "Hamming distance" metric for grammars? Example of what I am thinking of: Pascal's END is error prone because if you miss one, it could be a long way down the code before the compiler discovers it. Ada's matched ENDs are safer. Implications: make compiler construction tools work out such metrics, when fed the grammar. Ken -- John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA +1 617 494 1400 { decvax | harvard | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization.
johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) (03/21/86)
I've been collecting in an ad hoc fashion data about errors Ada programmers make. I can send you an interim draft of this info, either electronically or in hard copy. The file contains about 75K characters. This doesn't contain any formal measures of the kind you are interested in, but it has some raw data on the kinds of errors people make. John B. Goodenough goodenou@wanginst (CSNET) Wang Institute of Graduate Studies harvard!wanginst!goodenou (UUCP) Tyng Road, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 Goodenough@ISI (ARPA) (At Wang Institute until 6/1/86) 617-649-9731 -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send submissions to: ima!compilers ima is reachable as { ucbvax!cbosgd | ihnp4 | cca | bbncca | think | uiucdcs | allegra | inmet | yale | harvard }!ima!... Arpa mail may make it to ima!compilers@CCA-UNIX or ima!compilers@BBNCCA
johnl@ima.UUCP (John R. Levine) (03/21/86)
I heard of work done at my school which demonstrated with empirical results that the error rate increases with the use of goto's. I have no reference, sorry. If memory serves me, the work was done by Rod Oldehoeft (rro@csu-cs). -- David C. Stewart uucp: tektronix!davest Unix Systems Support Group csnet: davest@TEKTRONIX Tektronix, Inc. phone: (503) 627-5418 -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send submissions to: ima!compilers ima is reachable as { ucbvax!cbosgd | ihnp4 | cca | bbncca | think | uiucdcs | allegra | inmet | yale | harvard }!ima!... Arpa mail may make it to ima!compilers@CCA-UNIX or ima!compilers@BBNCCA