TY - JOUR
AU - Travassos, Guilherme Horta
AB - ContextReading and understanding the source code are fundamental to supporting software programmers’ daily activities. Still, there is no agreement regarding the program attributes needed to achieve the readability and comprehensibility of source code.ObjectiveTo analyze the influence of comments presence, indentation spacing, identifiers length, and code size on the readability and comprehensibility of source code from the perspective of novice and experienced programmers.MethodWe performed three primary studies and collected quantitative (Likert) and qualitative data representing the programmers’ judgment regarding the readability and comprehensibility of code snippets. For each study, the influence of the four attributes on the readability and comprehensibility of source code was analyzed. The results were aggregated using the odds-ratio approach and analyzed concerning participants’ programming experience.ResultsThe quality characteristics were not significantly affected (alpha = 5%) by either the indentation spacing or the code size, whereas the presence of comments and identifier length affect source code quality positively under such characteristics, according to both novices and experienced programmers.ConclusionsAlthough the results presented findings with statistical significance, the controlled factors and participants’ stratification between novices and experienced were insufficient to explain the contradictory findings in the technical literature concerning the impact of the attributes under evaluation on the readability and comprehensibility of source code.
TI - On the Investigation of Empirical Contradictions - Aggregated Results of Local Studies on Readability and Comprehensibility of Source Code
JF - Empirical Software Engineering
DO - 10.1007/s10664-023-10360-5
DA - 2023-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/on-the-investigation-of-empirical-contradictions-aggregated-results-of-sprvFdKjEQ
VL - 28
IS - 6
DP - DeepDyve
ER -