This project compares three groups of programmers: open source software contributors, proprietary programmers, and novice coders, on three sets of variables: 1) aesthetic judgment criteria of software; 2) verbal protocol measures of cognitive processes occurring during creative problem solving while revising code; 3) ontogenetic quality trajectories as code is revised. This work has the strong potential to yield new psychological models of creativity by shedding light on the dynamic problem solving and evaluative processes that drive the ontogenesis of creative products. The comparison of two different groups of experts is also a novelty, certainly within the field of software design, and is atypical of cognitive studies of expertise more generally. This research also promises to help answer broader questions on the nature of creativity and to contribute to ongoing debates in computer science, software engineering, organizational behavior, cognitive psychology, and aesthetics, on how to promote innovation, on the kinds of mental processes contributing to creativity, and on the basic nature of quality of creative artifacts, such as software.
