Stimulus structures and mental representations in expert comprehension of computer programs
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The finding that programmers first understand control-flow features is consistent with prior FORTRAN and COBOL findings.
“This is consistent with previous findings dating back to FORTRAN and COBOL programming [Pennington 1987], where programmers briefly shown small code snippets could best answer questions about control flow compared to data-or logic-flow.”
From Grounded Copilot: How Programmers Interact with Code-Generating Models (2023) · cites this paper as [Pennington 1987]
Previous findings dating back to FORTRAN and COBOL programming show that programmers briefly shown small code snippets could best answer questions about control flow compared to data- or logic-flow.
“This is consistent with previous findings dating back to FORTRAN and COBOL programming [Pennington 1987], where programmers briefly shown small code snippets could best answer questions about control flow compared to data-or logic-flow.”
From Grounded Copilot: How Programmers Interact with Code-Generating Models (2023) · cites this paper as Pennington 1987
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- Authors
- Pennington, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pennington, Nancy
- Venue
- Cognitive Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1987-07
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 295-341
- ISSN
- 0010-0285 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2154671002
- Cited by
- 526
- References
- 82
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 32.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cognitive Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Research
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Teaching and Learning Programming
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Keywords
- program comprehension, mental representation, programming knowledge, control flow, functional relationships, goal hierarchy, expert programmers, task goals
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