A proposal for a measure of program understanding

This paper investigates the needs of computer science educators and experimental researchers for a measure of programmer performance. Operational and comprehensional problem solving is differentiated and their manifestations in computer science are presented. Measures that have been used by experimental researchers to evaluate programmer performance are described. The lack of adequate measures of comprehensional problem solving leads to the definition of the concept of Program Understanding. A measure of Program Understanding is discussed and its uses in education, experimental research, and industry are explored.

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