The influence of individual differences on the reading of computer programs

The author investigated how subject differences interacted with program form to influence the subject´s comprehension and memory for computer programs. Twenty-three second-semester computer science students (subjects) read twelve programs written in English and Pascal. Measures of language and programming ability provided the basis for categorization of the subjects into low- and high-performance groups. The dependent variables included general and specific comprehension tests as well as memory load correlates of the subject´s reading and recall times. Statistically significant differences between the groups were found for comprehension and memory variables. The low-performance group was particularly influenced by the form of the text, while the high-performance group adapted to the demands of the task. These results suggest that architects of programming languages and human-computer interfaces should include subject differences as a design parameter