Abstract
As shown by several studies, programmers’ readability of source code is influenced by its structural and the textual features. In order to assess the importance of these features, we conducted an eye-tracking experiment with programming students. To assess the readability and comprehensibility of code snippets, the test subjects were exposed to four different snippets containing or missing structural and/or textual elements. To assure that all subjects were at an equivalent level of expertise, their programming skills were also evaluated. During the eye-tracking experiment, the subjects were also asked to give a readability and comprehensibility score to each snippet. The absence of textual features showed to increase the average fixation duration. This indicates that for the test subjects the textual features were more essential for the comprehension of the code. Gaze pattern analysis revealed less ordered patterns in the absence of structural features compared to the absence of textual features.
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Notes
- 1.
Source codes are written in a programming language, which a human can easily read. A large program may contain many different source code files within its architecture. Compilers translate source codes into machine language, which is processed faster by the digital machine but it is harder for a human to deal with.
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Wulff-Jensen, A., Ruder, K., Triantafyllou, E., Bruni, L.E. (2019). Gaze Strategies Can Reveal the Impact of Source Code Features on the Cognitive Load of Novice Programmers. In: Ayaz, H., Mazur, L. (eds) Advances in Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Engineering. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 775. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94866-9_9
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