Dealing with Faults in Source Code: Abbreviated vs. Full-Word Identifier Names
G. Scanniello, and M. Risi. 29th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance, page 190-199. (September 2013)
Abstract
We carried out a controlled experiment to investigate whether the use of abbreviated identifier names affects the ability of novice software developers to identify and fix faults in source code. The experiment was conducted with 49 students in Computer Science. The results of the statistical analyses indicate that there was not a significant difference to identify and to fix faults, when source code contains either abbreviated and full-word identifier names. In other words, it seems that abbreviated identifiers provide the same information as full-word identifiers on the solution domain and the implementation.
%0 Conference Paper
%1 Scanniello2013a
%A Scanniello, G.
%A Risi, M.
%B 29th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance
%D 2013
%K identifier abbreviations
%P 190-199
%T Dealing with Faults in Source Code: Abbreviated vs. Full-Word Identifier Names
%X We carried out a controlled experiment to investigate whether the use of abbreviated identifier names affects the ability of novice software developers to identify and fix faults in source code. The experiment was conducted with 49 students in Computer Science. The results of the statistical analyses indicate that there was not a significant difference to identify and to fix faults, when source code contains either abbreviated and full-word identifier names. In other words, it seems that abbreviated identifiers provide the same information as full-word identifiers on the solution domain and the implementation.
@inproceedings{Scanniello2013a,
abstract = {We carried out a controlled experiment to investigate whether the use of abbreviated identifier names affects the ability of novice software developers to identify and fix faults in source code. The experiment was conducted with 49 students in Computer Science. The results of the statistical analyses indicate that there was not a significant difference to identify and to fix faults, when source code contains either abbreviated and full-word identifier names. In other words, it seems that abbreviated identifiers provide the same information as full-word identifiers on the solution domain and the implementation.},
added-at = {2014-07-07T16:44:06.000+0200},
author = {Scanniello, G. and Risi, M.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/235cd017020ca49952b4f8f6f07576611/sjbutler},
booktitle = {29th IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance},
file = {:Scanniello 2013 Dealing with faults in source code.pdf:PDF},
interhash = {edcfa338d60a68e66cee49e9400d2612},
intrahash = {35cd017020ca49952b4f8f6f07576611},
keywords = {identifier abbreviations},
month = {Sept},
pages = {190-199},
timestamp = {2014-07-07T16:44:06.000+0200},
title = {Dealing with Faults in Source Code: Abbreviated vs. Full-Word Identifier Names},
year = 2013
}