---
title: "Recognition in a Program Understanding System"
authors:
  - "Stephen Fickas"
  - "Ruven Brooks"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1979/60"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1979/0060.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the Sixth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1979
pages: ""
track: ""
keywords:
---

# Recognition in a Program Understanding System

Stephen Fickas, Ruven Brooks

*Proceedings of the Sixth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*.

## Abstract

Wf' propo~.c a recor,nilion model for a Program Understanding system based on a top-down control structure that begins from a r,iven hir,h level plan and attempts to refine and decompose the plan until it can be matched against aduill codf'. WI:' introduce the notion of "diclindivc features" and "beacons" which help guide the recognition procf':;s and arc bilsed on a set of functional program "templates". Additional mechansims are proposed to recover from silu<'~lions in which the primary top-down approach fails.