Quantitative Quality Evaluation of the Impact of Indentation in Source Code Using Eye-Tracking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52731/lir.v004.293Keywords:
Eye tracking, source code, indentation, readabilityAbstract
This study focuses on the setting of indentation and aims to elucidate its impact on reada-bility through the analysis of program comprehension processes using eye tracking. Within the workload of software lifecycle activities, maintenance tasks are known to occupy a sig-nificant proportion. Among the various stages of maintenance, understanding the content of source code, namely comprehension, is considered the most time-consuming task. Against this backdrop, the ability to comprehend source code is recognized as an important pro-gramming skill. Alongside comprehension, awareness of source code readability is also considered a vital aspect of comprehension learning. Factors influencing the readability of source code include code structure, naming conventions, presence, and quality of com-ments, as well as indentation and placement of parentheses. However, insufficient quantita-tive research has been conducted to demonstrate the impact of these factors on readability. Therefore, this study focuses on the influence of indentation on readability and analyzes the program comprehension process using eye tracking. The results suggest that in the case of small-scale source code, the absence of indentation may not adversely affect slicing.
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