Achieving Software Quality Through Identifier Names
(2004)Presented at Qualcon 2004 http://www.aoq.asn.au/conference2004/conference.html.Abstract
Software quality is not defined in terms of quality attributes but instead must be inferred from characteristics that correlate to quality attributes
and defect attributes. One of these quality attributes is the readability of the software. However, the software engineer, who is ultimately responsible for software quality, is not supported well by their formal
education, the software engineering culture, the existence of useful tools and where these tools do exist by their limited up-take by industry.
Human cognitive limitations similarly frustrate the development of readable source code. This condition may be acceptable in the small (i.e., programs smaller than 5kSLOC) but are becoming untenable for large software systems development. Software characteristics have been
identified, which correlate well to source code readability. One of these software characteristics, which have been supported by empirical research, is the choice of identifier name. This paper reports research identifying a number of identifier-naming style guidelines that direct
towards improved source code readability. The paper also discloses attitudes of software engineers toward the acceptance of these guidelines.