This research presents a critique of C language, "a general- purpose programming language" (Freedman, 1991, p. 193). A programming language is a specialized language that is used to translate a problem solution to be used by a computer into the language of bits and bytes that a computer can understand (Townsend, 1989, p. 2). A problem solution is a program that is employed by a computer user to either solve a particular problem or to perform a particular task. C language is found in two versions--the original high-level programming language and the newer object-oriented C language (Ralston, and Reilly, 1993, p. 79). Both versions of C language--the original C and the newer C++--are included in this research.
A signal advantage of C language is that, as a high-level program language, C language can "manipulate the computer at a low level like assembly language" (Ralston, and Reilly, 1993, p. 79). Further, C language can "be compiled into machine languages for almost all computers" (Ralston, and Reilly, 1993, p. 79). C++ is an "object-oriented version of C . . . that . . . combines traditional C programming with object-oriented capability" (Ralston, and Reilly, 1993, p. 79). The inclusion of object- oriented programming enhances the value of C (Fleming and Mazzucchelli, 1991, pp. 63-67).
A system is often defined as a complex of interacting objects that have some form of process behavior (Clancey, 1990, p. 41). In developing a program to operate a process, the programmer "has in mind a systematic correspondence by which the contents of certain storage cells represent objects and relationships within the subject domain" (Winnograd and Flores, 1991, p. 104). Research in artificial intelligence has "emphasized the problem of representation. In artificial intelligence programs, there is a more complex correspondence between what is to be represented and the corresponding form in the machine" (Winn...