Towards an empirically validated model for assessment of code quality

Abstract

We present a pilot study into developing a model of feedback on code quality in introductory programming courses. To devise such a model, we analyzed professional standards of code quality embedded in three popular software engineering handbooks and found 401 suggestions that we categorized into twenty topics. We recorded three instructors who performed a think-aloud judgment of student-submitted programs, and we interviewed them on the topics from the books, leading to 178 statements about code quality. The statements from the instructor interviews allowed us to generate a set of topics relevant to their practice of giving feedback, which we used to create criteria for the model. We used the instructor statements as well as the book suggestions to distinguish three levels of achievement for each criterion. This resulted in a total of 9 criteria for code quality. The interviews with the instructors generated a view of code quality that is very comparable to what was found in the handbooks, while the handbooks provide detailed suggestions that make our results richer than previously published grading schemes. As such, this process leads to an overview of code quality criteria and levels that can be very useful for constructing a standardsbased rubric for introductory programming courses.

The Smell of Processing

“…Code smells are widely used in programming education to give feedback to novice programmer code. Existing research has determined the most important code smells defined by standard literature on professional programming (Stegeman et al, 2014). The code smells found in this study were used for the assessment of novice's code.…”

"I know it when I see it"

“…Stegeman et al [30,31] analyzed normative statements about code quality from three popular texts on software development and compiled them into a set of 20 quality aspects. Furthermore, they interviewed three teachers based on a programming assignment, using this set of quality aspects.…”

Uma abordagem adaptativa para gerar agrupamento de códigos em disciplinas de programação introdutória

“…comentários), outros. Sendo a mencionada avaliação demorada, elaé sujeita ao viés e aos erros de cada avaliador, caracterizando então um problema, pois, o feedback rápido e eficienteé de extrema importância para possibilitar o aprendizado de qualquer conceito [Stegeman et al 2014].…”

“…Alguns pesquisadores apontam que a dificuldade do professor em fornecer um acompanhamento mais próximo aos alunos, agrava e potencializa a ocorrência de diversos fatores causadores de dificuldades de ensino e aprendizagem de programação [Mota et al 2009] [Stegeman et al 2014].…”