“We found that programmers work at all levels of abstraction (code, algorithm, application domain) about equally.”

(A.M. Vans, A.v. Mayrhauser, G. Somlo: Program understanding behavior during corrective maintenance of large-scale software; Int.J. Human-Computer Studies 1999-51)

The combined effect of large scale of today’s software, the wide-spread use of open source components, and frequent project and job changes cause the software engineer to deal with unknown code. While his/her education and experience might help him to build up domain and framework knowledge, he still has to map large sets of source code into models he can work with.

Obviously, any existing documentation and knowledgeable staff will be a great introduction to a large new world. But eventually the engineer needs to work with the source code and find his way around it. Continue reading Understanding Other People’s Programs