The effect of comment and code style on software maintenance /

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dubbs, Roger Bruce, 1946-
Other Authors: Childs, S. Bart (degree committee member.), Mitta, Deborah A. (degree committee member.)
Format: Thesis Book
Language:English
Published: 1993.
Subjects:
Online Access:Link to OAKTrust copy

MARC

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040 |a TXA  |b eng  |c TXA  |d OCLCQ  |d TXA 
035 |a (OCoLC)34294321 
049 |a TXAM 
099 |a 1993  |a Dissertation  |a D813 
100 1 |a Dubbs, Roger Bruce,  |d 1946- 
245 1 4 |a The effect of comment and code style on software maintenance / 
264 1 |c 1993. 
300 |a ix, 173 leaves :  |b illustrations ;  |c 28 cm 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references. 
500 |a Vita. 
502 |b Ph. D.  |c Texas A & M University  |d 1993 
500 |a "Major subject: Computer Science." 
520 3 |a Users of software want working systems. The problem is that the definition of 'working' is a moving target. The primary purpose of software maintenance is to keep software close to that moving target. The procedures that a software engineer follows when modifying a program consist of three fundamental steps: understand the program, change the code and the documentation, and validate and verify the change. Research has shown that as much as 50% of a software maintenance specialist's active programming time is used in understanding the software being changed. This research involved a study of the readability of software source code. The emphasis of this work was to examine those elements of source code that are designed, not for the compiler, but for the human reader. A set of programs was examined by two groups of software experts to determine a subjective rating of readability. To generate an objective readability rating, a concept of cognitive blocks in the source code, similar to psychological chunks, is proposed. Additionally, the use of a dictionary is proposed to determine the mnemonic value of token names. From these concepts a Software Readability Index is developed that can be generated without individual subjective evaluation. Finally, an experiment is presented that provides evidence that the Software Readability Index accurately predicts readability of source code. 
650 4 |a Major computer science. 
655 7 |a Academic theses  |2 lcgft 
700 1 |a Lively, William M.,  |e degree supervisor. 
700 1 |a Simmons, Dick B.,  |e degree supervisor. 
700 1 |a Childs, S. Bart,  |e degree committee member. 
700 1 |a Mitta, Deborah A.,  |e degree committee member. 
710 2 |a Texas A & M University,  |e degree granting institution. 
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