Soloway’s Rainfall problem, a classic benchmark in computing education research, has proven difficult for many CS1 students. Rainfall tests students’ abilities at plan composition, the task of integrating code fragments that implement subparts of a problem into a single program. Nearly all prior studies of Rainfall have involved students who were learning imperative programming with arrays. In our recent multi-university study, students learning functional programming produced atypical profiles of compositions and errors on Rainfall.

What do these different results suggest about the problem of plan composition and programming education? This talk raises various questions about the relationships between programming languages, program design, curricula, and how students perceive code structure.

Please come equipped with pen and paper, because the talk will require you to write some programs.

Joint work primarily with Kathi Fisler.

I am the Vice President for Programming Languages at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA. I’m not, really, but that’s what it says on my business card. I believe tropical fruit are superior to all other kinds. I’d almost certainly rather be out riding a bike up a mountain (slowly) than being at whatever event this bio sketch is being shown for. I am terrified of success, because I may be forced to buy a suit. You can learn other things about me from my very serious Web site. I am also known to interrogate my audiences to ensure they’re paying attention. So, be alert. You can read email later.