Based on literature and student input, six major concerns have been noted for student programming progress for the academic class and work environment. The areas of concern are module driver programming, program documentation, output design, data design, data validation; and reusable code. Each area has been analyzed and examined in the teaching of computer programming over a period of about 20 years. The key element continues to be thinking. Getting programming students to think about each of the concerns and applying those principles to their environment leads to a better programmer. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/AEF)