A procedure for predicting program editor performance from the user's point of view

A trace-driven model is derived for predicting the terminal session times for program editing tasks performed on interactive computer systems. The external parameters of the model are user think time, user: typing rate and computer response time. Possible applications of the model, including the selection of the most suitable subset of a program editor for a given task or user profile, are discussed. By way of example, the model is applied to command subsets suitable for novice and intermediate programmers on two program editors at the University of Nebraska. Statistically significant results are obtained for the difference between expected session durations on the two systems.