Programming languages are not only useful to command computers, they also increasingly are a medium for human communication. I will use the framework of distributed cognition to discuss how knowledge is shared in a team of programmers and to show that computer code plays an important role in it. The resulting model of how programmers comprehend code suggests that common grounds play an important role in it. I propose two hypotheses concerning the means used by programmers to refer to common grounds from within their code. The hypotheses imply that modern languages, such as Scala, offer advantages as human communication mediums. I describe an experiment, using an eye-tracking device, that measures the performance of code comprehension. The hypotheses are tested by varying the degree of reference to common grounds.
Title
Computer Code as a Medium for Human Communication: Are Programming Languages Improving?
Published in
Proceedings of the 21st Working Conference on the Psychology of Programmers Interest Group
Pages
174-187
Conference
21st Annual Psychology of Programming Interest Group Conference, Limerick, Ireland, June 24-26, 2009
Date
2009
Publisher
Limerick, Ireland, University of Limerick
ISBN
978-1-905952-16-8
Record creation date
2009-05-18