Metric and Tool Support for Instant Feedback of Source Code Readability

Autor: Sangchul Choi, Suntae Kim, JeongAh Kim, Sooyong Park
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Tehnički Vjesnik, Vol 27, Iss 1, Pp 221-228 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1330-3651
1848-6339
DOI: 10.17559/TV-20181030091239
Popis: In the software maintenance phase, comprehending the legacy source code is inevitable, which consumes most of the time of the phase. The better the code is readable, the easier it is for code readers to comprehend the system based on the source code. This paper proposes an enhanced source code readability metric to quantitatively measure the extent of code readability. In addition, we developed a tool support named Instant R. Gauge to update the code on the fly based on the readability feedback of the current code. The tool also provides the history of the readability change so that developers recognize the more readable code and gradually change their coding habit without any annoying advice. The suggested readability metric achieves 75.74% of explanatory power, and our experiment showed that readability of most of the methods authored in our tool is higher than that of the methods without our approach.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals