Despite its name PPIG (the Psychology of Programming Interest Group) entertains a broad spectrum of research approaches, from theoretical perspectives drawing on psychological theory to empirical perspectives grounded in real-world experience, and is equally concerned with all aspects of programming and software engineering, from the design of programming languages to communication issues in software teams, and from computing education to high-performance professional practice.
The PPIG discuss mailing list exists for anyone interested in the psychology of programming and other topics of interest to PPIG. It is true that many of the threads are concerned with teaching introductory programming or specific coding issues - this reflects the usage of the list rather than its remit.
Maria Kutar
At 13:49 10/03/2005, Ruven E Brooks wrote:
The discussion of commercial issues arise because some of us have a great deal of trouble understanding the
relevance of some of the research being discussed. A large part of the postings seem to be about teaching introductory
programming; others appear directed at minor coding issues that are unlikely to have significant impact.
To the extent that psychology of programming is APPLIED psychology, relevance to real world situations is what's important.
Furthermore, many of the important areas, writing/interpreting requirements, testing, etc. appear wide open in terms of
opportunities for research.
Perhaps, we ought to start a second discussion group, psychology of software development, that focuses on psychological issues
and research that arise in professional and commercial software development.
Ruven Brooks
