Pitt NSF Grant Will Improve Tools for Teaching Computer Programming

By Karen Hoffmann

Two Pitt professors have been awarded a grant to improve visualization tools for teaching computer programming. Their results, they say, will create better programmers and, in turn, better programs, with fewer loopholes for viruses and worms.

“We wouldn’t let a substandard plumber work on our heating system, but people buy software all the time that is written by substandard programmers,” said the project’s coprincipal investigator, Michael Spring, associate professor of information science at Pitt.

“The weaknesses in programs that allow users’ machines to be violated can almost always be traced back to programming errors that were made by less than competent programmers,” said Spring. “This research is designed at improving our ability to teach programming in a way that will ensure that we turn out programmers who have A-level, rather than C-level, skills.”

MORE >>