Improved tools for Computer Science Research

While leading experts disagree on the effectiveness of software engineering (as used in industry) in computer science research(Pressman, 2002; Brooks, 2002; Steier, Coyne and Subrahmanian, 1993), many tools that improve either the product or the process of research programming have been already been developed and accepted as useful.

One of the earliest tools to aid computer science research would have to have been the programming language. From raw machine code to assembler, assembler to high level languages such as FORTRAN and C and more recently a shift to OO (Object Oriented) languages such as Eiffel, C++ and Java and 3GLs (3rd Generation Languages) such as SQL (Structured Query Language), ease of programming has been improved. Indeed, in computer science education, programming languages have been recognised as the vehicle of choice for gaining access to the rest of the field (Comer et al., 1989).

Debuggers such as GDB (The GNU Project Debugger) and version control programs such as CVS (Concurrent Versions System) are now a standard part of most programmers' tool kits. Standard libraries and hard and soft copy references to them help programmers quickly find and reuse existing functions that are known to work.

These tools and methods, as well as others, though not always used, are already giving some benefit and speeding up the process of writing programs to conduct research. Some tools such as Javadoc (Sun Microsystems Inc, 2002) are enabling better understanding of library and user functions and helping the spread of knowledge.

References above can be seen in the Bibliography.