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21 - Expertise in Software Design

from PART V.A - PROFESSIONAL DOMAINS

By
Sabine Sonnentag ,
Cornelia Niessen  and
Judith Volmer
Edited by
K. Anders Ericsson ,
Neil Charness ,
Paul J. Feltovich  and
Robert R. Hoffman
Sabine Sonnentag
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz
Cornelia Niessen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz
Judith Volmer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz
K. Anders Ericsson
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Neil Charness
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Paul J. Feltovich
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
Robert R. Hoffman
Affiliation:
University of West Florida
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Summary

Keywords: software design, programming, computer program, debugging, communication, knowledge representation, Professionals.

Introduction

In this chapter, we review research evidence on expertise in software design, computer programming, and related tasks. Research in this domain is particularly interesting because it refers both to rather general features and processes associated with expertise (e.g., knowledge representation, problem-solving strategies) and to specific characteristics of high performers in an economically relevant real-world setting. Therefore, in this chapter we draw on literature from various fields, mainly from cognitive psychology, but also from work and organizational psychology and from the software-design literature within computer science.

Our chapter is organized as follows: In the first main section we provide a brief description of the domain and give an overview of tasks in software development. Next, we briefly describe the expertise concept and distinguish between a conceptualization of expertise as years of experience and expertise as high performance. The third main section is the core part of this chapter. In this section, we review empirical research on expertise in tasks such as software design, programming, program comprehension, testing, and debugging. Moreover, we describe how expert performers differ from non-experts with respect to knowledge as well as communication and cooperation processes. In the final section, we present directions for future research and discuss some practical implications.

Historical Context

Extensive research on expertise on software design and programming started in the early 1980s.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance , pp. 373 - 388
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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