Computer Language: Impact on Information Systems Development
通过访谈16位从第三代转向第四代计算机语言的软件开发者，发现语言转换会带来硬件成本、灵活性降低和项目规划错误，且收益难以弥补成本，影响生产率的关键因素是社会性的而非技术性的。
The impact of a particular computer language on the process of developing an information system is not well understood. This paper explores the issues through interviews with 16 software developers who changed, or considered changing, from a third to a fourth generation computer language. The conclusion is that there can be considerable costs in hardware, inflexibility and project planning errors incurred by changing to a fourth generation language. The benefits are unlikely to compensate for the costs of changing languages. The key factors influencing the productivity of software developers emerged as social, not technical.