View source for 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Letovsky |first=Stanley |date=1987-12-01 |title=Cognitive processes in program comprehension |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0164-1212%2887%2990032-X |journal=Journal of Systems and Software |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=325–339 |doi=10.1016/0164-1212(87)90032-X |issn=0164-1212}}</ref>  The results are used to develop tools and training.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Storey |first=Margaret-Anne |chapter=Theories, methods and tools in program comprehension: Past, present and future |date=2005-05-15 |title=13th International Workshop on Program Comprehension (IWPC'05) |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1109/WPC.2005.38 |series=IWPC '05 |location=USA |publisher=IEEE Computer Society |pages=181–191 |doi=10.1109/WPC.2005.38 |isbn=978-0-7695-2254-8}}</ref>   

Software maintenance tasks have five categories: adaptive maintenance, corrective maintenance, perfective maintenance, [[Code reuse|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.  
<!--  These links supply no knowledge except that one may "buy this article":
* Ruven Brooks' theory [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=803210].
* Ted J. Biggerstaff's concept assignment problem [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=257679].
* Anneliese von Mayrhauser's theory [http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/2.402076].
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== References ==
<references />

== See also ==
*Program analysis (computer science)
*[[Program slicing]]
[[Category:Computer programming]]

{{Sourceattribution|Program comprehension}}