Program comprehension

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
• Program slicing