{"id":"https://openalex.org/W2401870263","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","title":"How do professional developers comprehend software?","display_name":"How do professional developers comprehend software?","publication_year":2012,"publication_date":"2012-06-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W2401870263","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","mag":"2401870263"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4210203175","display_name":"ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)","issn_l":"0270-5257","issn":["0270-5257","1558-1225"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["cwts-core","norway-2"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319808","host_organization_name":"Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"conference"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"2012 34th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"volume":null,"type":"conference-paper","is_traditional":true,"indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5063441997","display_name":"Tobias Roehm","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I62916508","display_name":"Technical University of Munich","ror":"https://ror.org/02kkvpp62","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Tobias Roehm","raw_affiliation_strings":["Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","TU M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"TU M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5012643471","display_name":"Rebecca Tiarks","orcid":null,"observed_orcids":[]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I180437899","display_name":"University of Bremen","ror":"https://ror.org/04ers2y35","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I180437899"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I62916508","display_name":"Technical University of Munich","ror":"https://ror.org/02kkvpp62","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rebecca Tiarks","raw_affiliation_strings":["Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","Univ. of Bremen, Bremen, Germany"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Univ. of Bremen, Bremen, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I180437899"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5012031968","display_name":"Rainer Koschke","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4094-3444","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4094-3444"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I180437899","display_name":"University of Bremen","ror":"https://ror.org/04ers2y35","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I180437899"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I62916508","display_name":"Technical University of Munich","ror":"https://ror.org/02kkvpp62","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Rainer Koschke","raw_affiliation_strings":["Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","Univ. of Bremen, Bremen, Germany"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"Univ. of Bremen, Bremen, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I180437899"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5025426825","display_name":"Walid Maalej","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6899-4393","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6899-4393","https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9550-0037"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I62916508","display_name":"Technical University of Munich","ror":"https://ror.org/02kkvpp62","country_code":"DE","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Walid Maalej","raw_affiliation_strings":["Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","TU M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Technical University of M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]},{"raw_affiliation_string":"TU M\u00fcnchen, Munich, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I62916508"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":2,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":8.3222,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":198,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.98398233,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":95,"max":100},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"255","last_page":"265"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.9984999895095825,"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":0.9984999895095825,"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":0.0013000000035390258,"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/program-comprehension","display_name":"program comprehension","score":0.9950000047683716},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/professional-developers","display_name":"professional developers","score":0.7910000085830688},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/developer-practices","display_name":"developer practices","score":0.628000020980835},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/comprehension-strategies","display_name":"comprehension strategies","score":0.8709999918937683},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-maintenance","display_name":"software maintenance","score":0.5899999737739563},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/end-user-perspective","display_name":"end-user perspective","score":0.5199999809265137},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/face-to-face-communication","display_name":"face-to-face communication","score":0.6949999928474426},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-documentation","display_name":"software documentation","score":0.5989999771118164}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777561058","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2652119","display_name":"Program comprehension","level":4,"score":0.9155181050300598},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C511192102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5156948","display_name":"Comprehension","level":2,"score":0.7772068977355957},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6442425847053528},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C56666940","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q788790","display_name":"Documentation","level":2,"score":0.626054048538208},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779343474","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3109175","display_name":"Context (archaeology)","level":2,"score":0.5403225421905518},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C56739046","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192060","display_name":"Knowledge management","level":1,"score":0.4289969205856323},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780451532","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q759676","display_name":"Task (project management)","level":2,"score":0.4263134300708771},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.3559769093990326},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136764020","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q466","display_name":"World Wide Web","level":1,"score":0.34848707914352417},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149091818","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2429814","display_name":"Software system","level":3,"score":0.22770273685455322},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C127413603","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11023","display_name":"Engineering","level":0,"score":0.18997091054916382},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C86803240","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q420","display_name":"Biology","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C201995342","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q682496","display_name":"Systems engineering","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C151730666","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7205","display_name":"Paleontology","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1109/icse.2012.6227188","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4210203175","display_name":"ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion)","issn_l":"0270-5257","issn":["0270-5257","1558-1225"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["cwts-core","norway-2"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319808","host_organization_name":"Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319808"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"],"type":"conference"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"2012 34th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},{"id":"mag:2401870263","doi":null,"is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"http://dblp.uni-trier.de/db/conf/se/se2014.html#RoehmTKM14","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":"Software Engineering","raw_type":null}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[],"study_designs":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/study-designs/observational-study","display_name":"Observational Study"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":22,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W1964679590","https://openalex.org/W1989526951","https://openalex.org/W1997405881","https://openalex.org/W1998265754","https://openalex.org/W2030852377","https://openalex.org/W2055821246","https://openalex.org/W2080534028","https://openalex.org/W2097750323","https://openalex.org/W2099571428","https://openalex.org/W2100894766","https://openalex.org/W2109125971","https://openalex.org/W2120704737","https://openalex.org/W2142190098","https://openalex.org/W2148357053","https://openalex.org/W2151996389","https://openalex.org/W2153646932","https://openalex.org/W2157922094","https://openalex.org/W2159470208","https://openalex.org/W2160423649","https://openalex.org/W2180107243","https://openalex.org/W4234822591","https://openalex.org/W6685492122"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W2144651866","https://openalex.org/W4253598870","https://openalex.org/W2886906914","https://openalex.org/W2038154643","https://openalex.org/W2741561716","https://openalex.org/W2890502052","https://openalex.org/W1799636096","https://openalex.org/W7097026620","https://openalex.org/W2469510690","https://openalex.org/W4406858324"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Research":[0],"in":[1,38,78],"program":[2,21,92,146],"comprehension":[3,22,98,114,147,163],"has":[4],"considerably":[5],"evolved":[6],"over":[7],"the":[8,64,79,161],"past":[9],"two":[10],"decades.":[11],"However,":[12],"only":[13],"little":[14],"is":[15,135],"known":[16],"about":[17],"how":[18,55],"developers":[19,50,56,75,166],"practice":[20,150],"under":[23],"time":[24],"and":[25,28,31,69,94,109,149,165,180],"project":[26],"pressure,":[27],"which":[29],"methods":[30],"tools":[32,70,164],"proposed":[33],"by":[34,84,127],"researchers":[35],"are":[36],"used":[37],"industry.":[39],"This":[40],"paper":[41],"reports":[42],"on":[43,63,101],"an":[44],"observational":[45],"study":[46],"of":[47,81,119,158,160,171],"28":[48],"professional":[49],"from":[51],"seven":[52],"companies,":[53],"investigating":[54],"comprehend":[57],"software.":[58],"In":[59],"particular":[60],"we":[61,105,152],"focus":[62],"strategies":[65,99],"followed,":[66],"information":[67],"needed,":[68],"used.":[71],"We":[72,129],"found":[73,106,131],"that":[74,107,132],"put":[76],"themselves":[77],"role":[80],"end":[82],"users":[83],"inspecting":[85],"user":[86],"interfaces.":[87],"They":[88],"try":[89],"to":[90,137,168],"avoid":[91],"comprehension,":[93],"employ":[95],"recurring,":[96],"structured":[97],"depending":[100],"work":[102],"context.":[103],"Further,":[104],"standards":[108],"experience":[110],"facilitate":[111],"comprehension.":[112],"Program":[113],"was":[115],"considered":[116],"a":[117,125,143],"subtask":[118],"other":[120],"maintenance":[121],"tasks":[122],"rather":[123],"than":[124],"task":[126],"itself.":[128],"also":[130],"face-to-face":[133],"communication":[134],"preferred":[136],"documentation.":[138],"Overall,":[139],"our":[140],"results":[141],"show":[142],"gap":[144],"between":[145],"research":[148,183],"as":[151],"did":[153],"not":[154],"observe":[155],"any":[156],"use":[157],"state":[159],"art":[162],"seem":[167],"be":[169],"unaware":[170],"them.":[172],"Our":[173],"findings":[174],"call":[175],"for":[176,181],"further":[177],"careful":[178],"analysis":[179],"reconsidering":[182],"agendas.":[184]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":16},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":16},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":13},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":13},{"year":2022,"cited_by_count":21},{"year":2021,"cited_by_count":14},{"year":2020,"cited_by_count":14},{"year":2019,"cited_by_count":16},{"year":2018,"cited_by_count":8},{"year":2017,"cited_by_count":18},{"year":2016,"cited_by_count":10},{"year":2015,"cited_by_count":16},{"year":2014,"cited_by_count":10},{"year":2013,"cited_by_count":10},{"year":2012,"cited_by_count":3}],"updated_date":"2026-11-13T13:42:25.865203","created_date":"2016-06-24T00:00:00"}
