Guidelines for using style to improve computer program comprehension
have often been proposed without empirical testing. This thesis reports on the
results of three controlled experiments that investigated ways program style may be
used to aid comprehension of source code listings.
Experiments 1 and 2 were conducted using advanced computer science
students as subjects and short Pascal programs. Results showed that student
programmers used meaningful identifier names as important sources of information
during comprehension of short programs.
A review of the literature showed the need for the thesis' proposed
methodology for designing controlled experiments on program comprehension that
produce results which generalize well to situations involving professional
programmers working on real world tasks. This methodology was used to design
Experiment 3.
Text comprehension researchers have investigated the use of signaling, or
the placement of non-content information, in a text in order to emphasize certain
ideas and/or clarify the organization. Experiment 3 investigated the role of
signaling in another domain, that of computer program source code listings.
The experiment had professional programmers study a 913-line C
program. Three types of signals were investigated: preview statements, headings,
and typographic cueing. The major results were
(a) meaningful module names served as headings in the source code
listing and helped professional programmers understand and locate
information in the program;
(b) header comments, when written as preview statements, helped
professional programmers understand and locate information in the
program;
(c) typographic cueing, designed to provide emphasis and segmentation
cues, helped programmers understand the program; and
(d) the effects of meaningful names, header comments, and typographic
cueing were additive. No significant interactions of effects were
observed.
Based on these results, guidelines are proposed for ways programmers
may use comments and module names in source code to act as signals that aid
future readers. In addition, guidelines are suggested for adding typographic
signaling to provide emphasis to the comments and names. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36258 |
| Date | 10 May 1991 |
| Creators | Gellenbeck, Edward M. |
| Contributors | Cook, Curtis R. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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