It always amazes me when people can dismiss academic papers -- the result of (at least) several weeks of work -- with a glib comment uttered anonymously, and no support given.
I have read the study which is why i made that comment. In fact, i've even contacted the author to gain more details about how they selected code samples to serve as learning aids and how all the other code samples looked like.
Additionally, i am not anonymous. Google my name and you will find all about me, including, if you look for longer than a minute, my full name and address.
Lastly, there was no need to give support in that comment by repeating what others and myself have said copiously all over the comments here. This was my main post towards that. Feel free to argue it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3153249
Have you read the study? If not, you can find it here: http://www.cs.siue.edu/~astefik/papers/StefikPlateau2011.pdf