Navigation and comprehension of programs by novice programmers

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of different methods of program navigation on the mental representation and comprehension of novice procedural programmers. As a programmer tries to comprehend a program, a particular navigation method may assist or inhibit the process by highlighting, or making more accessible, certain kinds of information. Presumably, a method of navigation that highlights a certain type of information will help the programmer to better comprehend that information. In this research we study the effect of sequential, control flow, and data flow navigation methods on novices programmers' overall comprehension of a program and on the ability to comprehend specific types of information. Our results indicate that novice comprehension is facilitated by a sequential or control flow view of the program and is inhibited by a data flow view.