Cognitive style,personality, and computer programming

Within the field of computer programming there is evidence of tremendous variation among individuals achievement in programming. Cognitive styles and personality traits have been investigated as factors that may help explain some of that variability; however, they have failed to consistently explain individual differences in achievement. In the majority of these studies, computer programming has been measured as a single activity. Computer programming has been described as an activity having separate and distinct phases: problem representation, program design, coding, and debugging. It may be that certain cognitive styles and personality dimensions affect some phases but not others. The purpose of this review is twofold. First, the empirical studies on the relation between cognitive style, personality traits and computer programming are reviewed. Second, the paper provides an agenda for future research by providing a conceptual framework that organizes and relates the variety of constructs to the specific phases of writing computer programs and identifies a number of distinct gaps in this particular body of research.