Does syntax highlighting help programming novices?

Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax highlighting is one of the most common tools used to support developers in understanding algorithms. However, most research on code highlighting is more tha...

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Published in:2018 IEEE/ACM 40th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) p. 704
Main Authors: Hannebauer, Christoph, Hesenius, Marc, Gruhn, Volker
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 27.05.2018
Series:ACM Conferences
Subjects:
Code Colouring
Human computer interaction
Human-centered computing > Human computer interaction (HCI) > Empirical studies in HCI
Human-centered computing > Visualization > Empirical studies in visualization
IDE Interface
Program Comprehension
Programming
Software and its engineering > Software notations and tools > Development frameworks and environments > Integrated and visual development environments
Software engineering
Source Code Typography
Syntactics
Syntax Highlighting
Task analysis
Visualization
program comprehension
source code typography code colouring
syntax highlighting
IDE interface
ISBN:9781450356381, 1450356389
ISSN:1558-1225
Online Access:Get full text
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Abstract Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax highlighting is one of the most common tools used to support developers in understanding algorithms. However, most research on code highlighting is more than 20 years old, when programmers used a completely different tool chain. Newer results on the effect of syntax highlighting as used in modern Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are inconclusive.
AbstractList Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax highlighting is one of the most common tools used to support developers in understanding algorithms. However, most research on code highlighting is more than 20 years old, when programmers used a completely different tool chain. Newer results on the effect of syntax highlighting as used in modern Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are inconclusive.
Background: Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax highlighting is one of the most common tools used to support developers in understanding algorithms. However, most research in this area originates from a time when programmers used a completely different tool chain. Objective: We examined the influence of syntax highlighting on novices' ability to comprehend source code. Additional analyses cover the influence of task type and programming experience on the code comprehension ability itself and its relation to syntax highlighting. Method: We conducted a controlled experiment with 390 undergraduate students in an introductory Java programming course. We measured the correctness with which they solved small coding tasks. Each test subject received some tasks with syntax highlighting and some without. Results: The data provided no evidence that syntax highlighting improves novices' ability to comprehend source code. Limitations: There are very few similar experiments and it is unclear as of yet which factors impact the effectiveness of syntax highlighting. One major limitation may be the types of tasks chosen for this experiment. Conclusion: The results suggest that syntax highlighting squanders a feedback channel from the IDE to the programmer that can be used more effectively.
Author Hannebauer, Christoph
Gruhn, Volker
Hesenius, Marc
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  givenname: Marc
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  fullname: Hesenius, Marc
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  organization: University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
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  givenname: Volker
  surname: Gruhn
  fullname: Gruhn, Volker
  email: volker.gruhn@uni-due.de
  organization: University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen
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Keywords program comprehension
source code typography code colouring
syntax highlighting
IDE interface
Language English
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Snippet Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax highlighting is...
Background: Program comprehension is an important skill for programmers - extending and debugging existing source code is part of the daily routine. Syntax...
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StartPage 704
SubjectTerms Code Colouring
Human computer interaction
Human-centered computing -- Human computer interaction (HCI) -- Empirical studies in HCI
Human-centered computing -- Visualization -- Empirical studies in visualization
IDE Interface
Program Comprehension
Programming
Software and its engineering -- Software notations and tools -- Development frameworks and environments -- Integrated and visual development environments
Software engineering
Source Code Typography
Syntactics
Syntax Highlighting
Task analysis
Visualization
Title Does syntax highlighting help programming novices?
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