I'm dyslexic too. I don't know Fortran, but I have used C++ and Visual Basic.
I agree with Ted, "Breaking a large task into smaller parts."
When designing a program, I draw a flow chart first, the visual aproach makes
the task so much clearer, this can be done easily by hand, I also use a piece
of software called RRFlow by Omicron systems, to draw my flow charts.
De-bugging is harder, it really depends on how well fortran marks errors.
Both in C and VB you at least know what line it is in, even then I found it
hard to spot.
Barbara Corcoran
computer Co-ordinator HDA
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/dyslexia.hamp
At 13:48 08/11/96 +0000, you wrote:
>On Thu 07 Nov, Lynn Tully wrote:
>> One of our PhD supervisors has asked for advice as to what difficulties a
>> dyslexic student might face in wrting a computer program and what
measures are
>> available to assist. the student is in year 2 of her PhD in the area of
>> Software Techniques for Digital Systems and an integral part of her research
>> involves some Fortran programming. The student has told the supervisor
she is
>> unable to write a program as she is dyslexic.
>
>
>I am dyslexic too and writing accurate code can be a problem, but many of
>the problems are due to inherently unfriendly systems.
>
>My experience relates to BBC BASIC and HTML on Unix, DOS and ADFS:
>
>Typos:
>
> Programming commands/tags/file-names
> mis-spelt/wrong case/ hence untraceable pointers
> difficulty in proof-reading these mistakes
>
>Memory overload:
>
> Too many interlinked bits to hold in a relational structure in memory
> Inability to retain ideas and pick-up a task after a break
>
>
>Things that help:
>
> Breaking a large task into smaller parts (PROCedures in BASIC,
> separate pages in HTML) that can be tackled as a unit and then
> slotted into the overall task.
>
> A Unix shell that completes directory/file names on pressing <tab>
> (Our Durham site had this, I wish Demon Internet supported it too!)
>
> Graphic Interface on the (HTML) Editor - Click a button to add the
> Commands/<tags> and put the cursor in the right place ready to type
> additional text etc.
> (Where commands come in pairs this is especially useful)
>
> Forgiving de-bugging software that accurately flags errors and
> suggests corrections would also help.
>
>
>Regards
>
>Ted
>
>--
>Ted Pottage. Chairman, BDA (British Dyslexia Association) Computer Committee
>
> Webmaster for -> http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk/
> we're A1 at BETT'97 too.
>
>
>
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