A review of human factors research on programming languages and specifications

Abstract

This paper presents a partial review of the human factors work on computer programming. It begins by giving an overview of the behavioral science approach to studying programming. Because of space limitations this review will concentrate on cognitive models of programmer problem solving and the experimental research on language characteristics and specification formats. Areas not reviewed include debugging, programming teams, individual differnces, and research methods. The conclusions discuss promising directions for future theory and research.