On the Meaning of Computer Programs

Abstract

This paper explores how computer programmers extract meaning from the computer program texts that they read. This issue is examined from the perspective that program reading is governed by a number of economic choices, since resources, particularly cognitive resources, are severely constrained. These economic choices are informed by the reader’s existing belief set, which includes beliefs pertaining to the overlapping and enclosing social groups to which the program reader, the original programmer, and the program’s users belong. Membership within these social groups, which may be as specific as the set of programmers working within a particular organization or as general as the members of a particular nation or cultural group, implies a set of shared knowledge that characterizes membership in the social group. This shared knowledge includes both linguistic and non-linguistic components and is what ultimately provides the interpretative context in which meaning is constructed. This account is distinguished from previous theories of computer program comprehension by its emphasis on the social and economic perspective, and by its recognition of the similarities between computer program understanding and natural language understanding.