Measuring computer program quality and comprehension

Judging the relative quality of computer programs and a programmer's comprehension of a given program has proven to be a difficult task. Ability to debug, modify, hand simulate execution or respond to questions about the program all have their weaknesses as comprehension metrics. This paper offers experimental evidence which supports the use of memorization/recall tasks as a further basis for judging program quality and programmer comprehension. A syntactic/semantic model of programmer behavior is presented to provide a basis for this hypothesis.