INDUSTRIAL EXPERIENCE WITH AN INTEGRATED CODE COMPREHENSION MODEL

Maintenance frequently consumes more resources than new software devel opment. A major portion of the maintenance effort is spent trying to u nderstand existing software. If more can be learnt about how programme rs understand code successfully, better tools to support this understa nding process can be built. This contributes to higher quality and imp roved efficiency of maintenance tasks. Audio-taped 'think aloud' repor ts were used to investigate an integrated code comprehension model dur ing a variety of industrial maintenance activities. The tapes were ana lysed for information needs during maintenance activities and used to derive useful tool capabilities.