I have little complaint about the actual material in this videotape. It gives a thorough review of the current state of the art in automated program synthesis, stating the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods available. A greater emphasis on the practical relevance of what can seem a rather theoretical and academic field might have been useful, although demonstrations are given of one particular system used in an industrial application.

My main feeling about the videotape, however, is that the material is just not suitable for the format; I would much rather have had it in the form of a printed survey paper. The material is almost entirely technical information, rather densely packed, and for this printed text has all the advantages: you can go through it at your own speed, turn back and forward at ease, skim through pages, and have the text available for use whenever and wherever needed. None of these actions can be easily performed with a videotape. This videotape also lacks any sort of bibliography; perhaps a list of detailed references does not fit well into the format, but a paper that attempted to summarize the field in the way this videotape does would be regarded as only half complete without a full bibliography.

The videotape format also compares unfavorably with the traditional lecture. The one great advantage the lecture has over other forms of imparting information is that it is interactive. Even if there are no opportunities for questions, a lecturer generally presents his or her material with respect to the feedback obtained from the audience. The recorded lecturer cannot slow down when the audience is showing signs of incomprehension, nor elaborate when it shows signs of enthusiasm. The distributors of the videotape address this by suggesting the use of “Tutored Video Instruction” (TVI), by which they mean to suggest that an instructor sit with the class viewing the tape, stopping it for discussion when necessary. With this particular videotape, which is almost all head-and-shoulders talking accompanied by almost static text, the instructor could just as well use a set of prepared slides and notes to be read out.

I do not totally rule out the use of video as a teaching aid. Where the material to be presented contains such things as plenty of dynamic graphics, discussion between several people, practical demonstrations, or real-world or human interest material, video with the TVI method may well be the ideal form for presentation. None of these features apply to this particular videotape.

The tape strikes me as an example of use of a technology because it is there rather than thinking about the circumstances in which it might be useful. A good videotape on automatic program synthesis might have a few graphic displays to give a feel for the field (but not masses of technical detail), demonstrations of existing systems in use, interviews with programmers and managers who have used the system, and a general talk intended to inspire viewers to seek out conventionally published material to get the detailed information they require for full understanding. I cannot regard a videotape that is just a canned lecture as anything more than a curiosity.