An Informal Study of Program Comprehension.

Abstract : This report describes work performed during the second year of research on a Program Reference Language. During this year, a study was conducted in which protocols of programmers studying a new program (with the intent of debugging it) were analyzed, both for the vocabulary used and for indications of strategies adopted in their efforts at program comprehension. A sampling of programmers' natural vocabulary for referencing programs was gathered and analyzed. Preliminary steps were taken towards using this data as the basis for the design of a formal query language for the PRL. The study also raised some new issues bearing on the implementation systems which use the PRL: individual differences imply the need for customization; context-sensitive information management is important; and useful user interface features were identified. (Author)