I think programming languages are also long overdue for some controlled trials. They can't be blinded: any experimental subject bright enough to learn to program is probably going to know what language they are programming in.
But trials comparing the effectiveness of different languages. How long they take to attain a specified level of proficiency, how long to learn enough to produce working code, and importantly, readability: for instance, how long it takes to find intentionally-planted bugs in existing, unfamiliar code.
NeXT did this, way back in the 1980s, and Sun lost badly:
I think programming languages are also long overdue for some controlled trials. They can't be blinded: any experimental subject bright enough to learn to program is probably going to know what language they are programming in.
But trials comparing the effectiveness of different languages. How long they take to attain a specified level of proficiency, how long to learn enough to produce working code, and importantly, readability: for instance, how long it takes to find intentionally-planted bugs in existing, unfamiliar code.
NeXT did this, way back in the 1980s, and Sun lost badly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGhfB-NICzg
There is a writeup of some of it here:
http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/BooksArticlesWhitePapers/...
But speaking as a non-video-liker, this 17min one is worth it.