Program comprehension explained

Program comprehension (also program understanding or [source] code comprehension) is a domain of computer science concerned with the ways software engineers maintain existing source code. The cognitive and other processes involved are identified and studied.^[1] The results are used to develop tools and training.^[2]

Software maintenance tasks have five categories: adaptive maintenance, corrective maintenance, perfective maintenance, code reuse, and code leverage.

Theories of program comprehension

Titles of works on program comprehension include

• Using a behavioral theory of program comprehension in software engineering
• The concept assignment problem in program understanding, and
• Program Comprehension During Software Maintenance and Evolution.

Computer scientists pioneering program comprehension include Ruven Brooks, Ted J. Biggerstaff, and Anneliese von Mayrhauser.

See also

• Program analysis (computer science)
• Program slicing

References

1. Letovsky . Stanley . 1987-12-01 . Cognitive processes in program comprehension . Journal of Systems and Software . 7 . 4 . 325–339 . 10.1016/0164-1212(87)90032-X . 0164-1212.
2. Book: Storey, Margaret-Anne . Theories, methods and tools in program comprehension: Past, present and future . 2005-05-15 . 13th International Workshop on Program Comprehension (IWPC'05) . https://doi.org/10.1109/WPC.2005.38 . IWPC '05 . USA . IEEE Computer Society . 181–191 . 10.1109/WPC.2005.38 . 978-0-7695-2254-8.