An Experimental Comparison of Time Sharing and Batch Processing

The effectiveness for program development
of the MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) 
was compared with that of the IBM IBSYS batch-processing
system by means of a statistically designed 
experiment.  An identical set of four programming problems
was assigned to each of a group of four programming 
subjects.  Influences external to the systems, such as
the sequence of problem solution, and programmer 
and problem characteristics, were specified as design
factors in the experiment.  Data was obtained for 
six variables (e.g., programmer time, computer time,
elapsed time, etc.) which were considered to be 
definitive of "system effectiveness," and analysis of
variance techniques were employed to estimate system 
differences in these variables after differences due to
the design factors had been eliminated.  Statistical 
analysis of the experimental results provided strong
evidence of important system differences, as well 
as a critique of the experimental design itself
with implications for further experimentation.

CACM May, 1967

Schatzoff, M.
Tsao, R.
Wiig, R.

CA670501 JB February 28, 1978  11:09 AM

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