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Recommended Citation: Stix, A and P H Mosley.  Cognitive Complexities Confronting Software Developers Utilizing Object Technology.  In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2002, v 19 (San Antonio): §342a. ISSN: 1542-7382.
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Cognitive Complexities Confronting Software Developers Utilizing Object Technology

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Refereed
 		Allen Stix    [a1] [a2]
Computer Science
Pace University    [u1] [u2]
Pleasantville, New York, USA    [c1] [c2]

Pauline Mosley    [a1] [a2]
Computer Science
Pace University    [u1] [u2]
Pleasantville, New York, USA    [c1] [c2]

Many managers are adopting object technology initiatives to develop high-quality products more efficiently. Consequently, software practices are changing and there are repercussions across corporate and academic training. As new practices promise to yield increasing benefits in the software development cycle, the complexity is becoming proportionately greater. This paper examines the notion that object technologists, like the workers in artificial intelligence, have underestimated the complexities associated with the analysis, design, and coding of software from "virtual things" (i.e. objects). One manifestation is that the information systems community making up the software infrastructure in many organizations is resisting, misapplying, or only very slowly understanding objects. Another manifestation is that the academic community is perplexed by the way that objects are changing the view of software and how, correspondingly, the computer science curriculum must be adapted. Going beyond merely documenting the cognitive complexities of object technology, this research identifies those atomic-level constituents responsible for the shift from simple to complex with respect to analysis and design. This paper concludes by proposing a pedagogical model that addresses these constituents and could thereby reduce the learning curve for retraining practitioners and restore clarity to the computer science curriculum.

Keywords: object-oriented programming, software engineering, software development, pedagogy

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