{"id":"https://openalex.org/W2010837018","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","title":"Improving computer program readability to aid modification","display_name":"Improving computer program readability to aid modification","publication_year":1982,"publication_date":"1982-08-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W2010837018","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","mag":"2010837018"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/358589.358596","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358589.358596","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S103482838","display_name":"Communications of the ACM","issn_l":"0001-0782","issn":["0001-0782","1557-7317"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["anvur-scientific","cwts-core","dongbi-b","fnege-3","jufo-3","norway-2","poland-140","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Communications of the ACM","raw_type":"journal-article"},"volume":null,"type":"article","is_traditional":true,"indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"bronze","oa_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358589.358596","any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5051368531","display_name":"James L. Elshoff","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I118136607","display_name":"General Motors (United States)","ror":"https://ror.org/05addee68","country_code":"US","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"James L. Elshoff","raw_affiliation_strings":["General Motors Research Lab., Warren, MI","General Motors Research Lab, Warren, MI#TAB#"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"General Motors Research Lab., Warren, MI","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"General Motors Research Lab, Warren, MI#TAB#","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5055333247","display_name":"Michael Marcotty","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I118136607","display_name":"General Motors (United States)","ror":"https://ror.org/05addee68","country_code":"US","type":"company","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Michael Marcotty","raw_affiliation_strings":["General Motors Research Lab., Warren, MI","General Motors Research Lab, Warren, MI#TAB#"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"General Motors Research Lab., Warren, MI","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"General Motors Research Lab, Warren, MI#TAB#","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":1,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I118136607"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":2.9746,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":57,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.90233645,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":88,"max":98},"biblio":{"volume":"25","issue":"8","first_page":"512","last_page":"521"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9990000128746033,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9990000128746033,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10430","display_name":"Software Engineering Techniques and Practices","score":0.0005000000237487257,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10639","display_name":"Advanced Software Engineering Methodologies","score":9.999999747378752e-05,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1712","display_name":"Software"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code-readability","display_name":"code readability","score":0.9620000123977661},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/program-change","display_name":"software modification","score":0.7960000038146973},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-maintenance","display_name":"software maintenance","score":0.7300000190734863}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778143727","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1820650","display_name":"Readability","level":2,"score":0.778873085975647},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778805511","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1713","display_name":"Citation","level":2,"score":0.7663458585739136},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6312919855117798},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C42475967","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q194292","display_name":"Operations research","level":1,"score":0.3501858711242676},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136764020","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q466","display_name":"World Wide Web","level":1,"score":0.2789003849029541},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C127413603","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11023","display_name":"Engineering","level":0,"score":0.1392187774181366},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.13327470421791077}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/358589.358596","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358589.358596","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S103482838","display_name":"Communications of the ACM","issn_l":"0001-0782","issn":["0001-0782","1557-7317"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["anvur-scientific","cwts-core","dongbi-b","fnege-3","jufo-3","norway-2","poland-140","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Communications of the ACM","raw_type":"journal-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/358589.358596","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/358589.358596","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358589.358596","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S103482838","display_name":"Communications of the ACM","issn_l":"0001-0782","issn":["0001-0782","1557-7317"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["anvur-scientific","cwts-core","dongbi-b","fnege-3","jufo-3","norway-2","poland-140","russia-white-list-1","vabb-shw"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Communications of the ACM","raw_type":"journal-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"study_designs":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":true,"grobid_xml":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W2010837018.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W2010837018.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":15,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W76990466","https://openalex.org/W1606787793","https://openalex.org/W1960390258","https://openalex.org/W1964962870","https://openalex.org/W1967346534","https://openalex.org/W1994142823","https://openalex.org/W1994718921","https://openalex.org/W2079697429","https://openalex.org/W2083761811","https://openalex.org/W2097224648","https://openalex.org/W2112418035","https://openalex.org/W2142800500","https://openalex.org/W2147543351","https://openalex.org/W2911595631","https://openalex.org/W4234822591"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W8360206","https://openalex.org/W4237632243","https://openalex.org/W2223492344","https://openalex.org/W2008212523","https://openalex.org/W2213142790","https://openalex.org/W7000473338","https://openalex.org/W2073147473","https://openalex.org/W2914165199","https://openalex.org/W7099088026","https://openalex.org/W282444104"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"The":[0,147,155,179],"Modification":[1],"CycleThe":[2],"modification":[3,129,136,189],"of":[4,30,78,81,117,128,140,143,165,199],"computer":[5],"programs":[6,65,75,90,118],"is":[7,40,113,131,138,170,181,191],"a":[8,35,141,151],"costly":[9],"and":[10,19,56,58,108,123,162,205],"constant":[11],"job.An":[12],"informal":[13],"survey":[14],"conducted":[15],"at":[16],"General":[17],"Motors":[18],"reported":[20],"on":[21,42],"by":[22,51,71],"Elshoff":[23],"[6]":[24],"concluded":[25],"that":[26,150,172],"about":[27],"75":[28],"percent":[29],"all":[31,74],"programmer/analysts'":[32],"time":[33],"in":[34],"commercial":[36],"data":[37],"processing":[38],"installation":[39],"spent":[41],"program":[43,152,180],"modification.This":[44],"conclusion":[45],"agrees":[46],"with":[47,97],"independent":[48],"assessments":[49],"made":[50],"Liu":[52],"[16],":[53],"Boehm":[54],"[2],":[55],"Lientz":[57],"Swanson":[59],"[15].Moreover,":[60],"the":[61,82,87,115,158,163,166,173,185,188,201],"reasons":[62],"for":[63,157],"modifying":[64],"will":[66],"not":[67,132,192],"disappear.As":[68],"pointed":[69],"out":[70],"Lehman":[72],"[14],":[73],"are":[76,160,175],"models":[77],"some":[79],"part":[80],"real":[83],"world":[84,88],"and,":[85],"as":[86,193,195],"changes,":[89],"must":[91],"be":[92,120,153],"modified":[93],"to":[94,119,134,183],"keep":[95],"pace":[96],"these":[98],"changes":[99,174],"or":[100],"they":[101],"become":[102],"progressively":[103],"less":[104,106,109],"relevant,":[105],"useful,":[107],"cost-effective.As":[110],"new":[111,186],"software":[112],"developed,":[114],"inventory":[116],"maintained":[121],"grows,":[122],"thus":[124],"this":[125,196],"high":[126],"level":[127],"work":[130],"expected":[133],"decrease.The":[135],"cycle":[137],"composed":[139],"sequence":[142],"steps":[144],"such":[145],"as:(l)":[146],"user":[148],"requests":[149],"changed.(2)":[154],"specifications":[156],"change":[159,167],"written":[161],"cost":[164],"estimated.(3)":[168],"It":[169],"decided":[171],"worth":[176],"being":[177],"made.(4)":[178],"changed":[182],"meet":[184],"specifications.Unfortunately,":[187],"environment":[190],"simple":[194],"list.The":[197],"frequency":[198],"change,":[200],"extent":[202],"CR":[203],"Categories":[204],"Subject":[206],"Descriptors:":[207],"D.":[208]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":1},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":5},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2022,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2021,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2020,"cited_by_count":1},{"year":2018,"cited_by_count":4},{"year":2017,"cited_by_count":4},{"year":2016,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2015,"cited_by_count":1},{"year":2014,"cited_by_count":1},{"year":2013,"cited_by_count":1},{"year":2012,"cited_by_count":2}],"updated_date":"2026-11-10T11:39:43.021295","created_date":"2016-06-24T00:00:00"}