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Software reuse needs to be taught early in the computer science curriculum. One of the major obstacles that students face when reusing software is the difficulty in learning how to use components from a software library. To aid in understanding components we built a tool that automatically embeds Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) links in Ada 95 specification files. Derived types are linked to their parent types, child packages are linked to their parents, and all subprogram parameter and return types are linked to their declarations. We conducted a controlled experiment to determine if these links help novice programmers to learn to use library components. Researchers have not formally investigated which comprehension techniques are effective and which are not. Our results indicate that our techniques are effective in aiding novice programmers to learn to use a reusable component. |
