An empirical study on students’ ability to comprehend design patterns

Design patterns have become a widely acknowledged software engineering practice and therefore have been incorporated in the curricula of most computer science departments. This paper presents an observational study on students’ ability to understand and apply design patterns. Within the context of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and education Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 1007 - 1016
Main Authors: Chatzigeorgiou, Alexander, Tsantalis, Nikolaos, Deligiannis, Ignatios
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2008
Elsevier
Subjects:
Assignments
Classroom Research
Computer Science
Computer Software
Computer System Design
Courses
Design patterns
Empirical study
Engineering
Instructional Improvement
Observation
Postsecondary Education
Science Instruction
Software engineering course
Software metrics
Student assignments
Student Attitudes
Teaching methodology
Teaching Methods
Teaching methodology
Student assignments
Design patterns
Software metrics
Software engineering course
Empirical study
ISSN:0360-1315, 1873-782X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Design patterns have become a widely acknowledged software engineering practice and therefore have been incorporated in the curricula of most computer science departments. This paper presents an observational study on students’ ability to understand and apply design patterns. Within the context of a postgraduate software engineering course, students had to deliver two versions of a software system; one without and one with design patterns. The former served as a poorly designed system suffering from architectural problems, while the latter served as an improved system where design problems had been solved by appropriate patterns. The experiment allowed the quantitative evaluation of students’ preference to patterns. Moreover, it was possible to assess students’ ability in relating design problems with patterns and interpreting the impact of patterns on software metrics. The overall goal was to empirically identify ways in which a course on design patterns could be improved.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0360-1315
1873-782X
DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2007.10.003