Historical Background: The 1970s. Second Period. Recent Thematic Developments.- What Is a Computer Program? Definition of a Program. Program v. Text. Programming Languages v. Natural Languages. Towards a Broader Definition.- Software Design: Theoretical Approaches: Features of the Problems of Program Design. Knowledge-Centred Approaches. Strategy-Centred Approach. Organisation-Centred Approach. Modelling the Expert. Making Tools More Suitable for Programmers. Future Research.- Software Reuse: Analytical Reasoning Models. Cognitive Mechanisms Employed in Reuse. Cognitive Classification of Reuse Situations. Future Research.- Design and Reuse of Object-Oriented Software: The Effect of a Programming Paradigm: Cognitive Implications of OO: Hypotheses. Object-Oriented Design. Reuse in the OO Paradigm. Future Research.- Understanding Software: Models of Text Understanding. Program Comprehension Seen as Text Understanding. Program Comprehension Seen as Problem Solving. Conclusions and Practical Implications.- Understanding Software: Effects of the Task and the Textual Structure: Influence of the Task. Effect of the Textual Structure. Practical Implications.- The Future for Programming Psychology: Prospects for the Software Community. Contributions to Cognitive Psychology.- References.- Index.

Covering a variety of areas including software analysis, design, coding and maintenance, this text details the research conducted since the 1970s in this fast-developing field before going on to define a computer program from the viewpoint of computing and cognitive psychology. The two essential sides of programming, software production and software understanding, are given detailed treatment, with parallels drawn throughout between studies on processing texts written in natural language and processing computer programs. Of particular interest to researchers, practitioners and graduates in cognitive psychology, cognitive ergonomics and computer science.