This paper presents five abstract characteristics of the mental representation of computer
programs: hierarchical structure, explicit mapping of code to goals, foundation on …

This paper presents five abstract characteristics of the mental representation of computer
programs hierarchical structure, explicit mapping of code to goals, foundation on recognition …

The notion of the programming plan as a description of one of the main types of strategy
employed in the comprehension of programs is now widely accepted to form an adequate …

We have been investigating the cognitive underpinnings of how programmers—novices and
experts—read and write computer programs. Our approach has been to employ a cycle of …

Comprehension of computer programs involves detecting or inferring different kinds of
relations between program parts. Different kinds of programming knowledge facilitate …

This thesis reports a series of studies of the behaviour of novice computer programmers.
One hundred and thirty nine programs which had been designed as solutions to a particular …

The question of how novice and expert computer programmers represent and use
programming concepts is addressed here. Lines of programming code forming three …

In the process of learning a computer language, beginning programmers may develop
mental models for the language. A mental model refers to the user's conception of the …

Mental representations of programs for student and professional programmers | Empirical
studies of programmers: second workshop skip to main content ACM Digital Library home ACM …

The study presents the results of an experiment on programmers' descriptions and
understanding. The 12 participants, students of computing, have produced notes on Turing's …