Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review
Software quality is an aspect directly linked to future maintenance costs, and is generally quantified by means of quality metrics of the software products. One of the main aspects to evaluate software quality is its maintainability, since it has a high impact on the total costs of software projects...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Online |
| Language: | spa |
| Published: |
Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistas.uptc.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/11756 |
| _version_ | 1801706089321857024 |
|---|---|
| author | Echavarría-Flórez, Ingrid Sofía Restrepo-Calle, Felipe |
| author_facet | Echavarría-Flórez, Ingrid Sofía Restrepo-Calle, Felipe |
| author_sort | Echavarría-Flórez, Ingrid Sofía |
| collection | OJS |
| description | Software quality is an aspect directly linked to future maintenance costs, and is generally quantified by means of quality metrics of the software products. One of the main aspects to evaluate software quality is its maintainability, since it has a high impact on the total costs of software projects. In particular, it is estimated that 70% of the maintenance time is dedicated to understand the code, so it is important to be able to measure the readability of a source code fragment properly. Readability is defined as the ease with which a person can read and understand a piece of code written by another person, this feature is crucial to facilitate the understanding of the code during software maintenance tasks. In this sense, it is necessary to be able to measure the readability of the source code. Therefore, over the past few years, researchers in the area have proposed multiple metrics to measure the readability of source code. However, it remains a challenge to be able to accurately assess the readability of source code in a widely accepted way. Therefore, it is essential to give continuity to this type of research and, for this, it is necessary to know the most recent advances. This paper presents a synthesis and analysis of code readability metrics, through a systematic review of literature, showing a compilation of the characteristics and methods used for their measurement. Results of this work will be useful for researchers in the area to propose new source code readability metrics. |
| format | Online |
| id | oai:oai.revistas.uptc.edu.co:article-11756 |
| institution | Revista Facultad de Ingeniería |
| language | spa |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | oai:oai.revistas.uptc.edu.co:article-117562021-07-13T02:23:16Z Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review Métricas de legibilidad del código fuente: revisión sistemática de literatura Echavarría-Flórez, Ingrid Sofía Restrepo-Calle, Felipe software readability source code software quality maintainability metrics software engineering legibilidad de código código fuente calidad de software mantenibilidad métricas ingeniería de software Software quality is an aspect directly linked to future maintenance costs, and is generally quantified by means of quality metrics of the software products. One of the main aspects to evaluate software quality is its maintainability, since it has a high impact on the total costs of software projects. In particular, it is estimated that 70% of the maintenance time is dedicated to understand the code, so it is important to be able to measure the readability of a source code fragment properly. Readability is defined as the ease with which a person can read and understand a piece of code written by another person, this feature is crucial to facilitate the understanding of the code during software maintenance tasks. In this sense, it is necessary to be able to measure the readability of the source code. Therefore, over the past few years, researchers in the area have proposed multiple metrics to measure the readability of source code. However, it remains a challenge to be able to accurately assess the readability of source code in a widely accepted way. Therefore, it is essential to give continuity to this type of research and, for this, it is necessary to know the most recent advances. This paper presents a synthesis and analysis of code readability metrics, through a systematic review of literature, showing a compilation of the characteristics and methods used for their measurement. Results of this work will be useful for researchers in the area to propose new source code readability metrics. La calidad del software es un aspecto ligado directamente a los costos futuros de mantenimiento y, generalmente, se cuantifica mediante métricas de calidad de los productos de software. Uno de los aspectos a tener en cuenta para evaluar la calidad del software es su mantenibilidad, ya que tiene un alto impacto sobre los costos totales de los proyectos de software. En particular, se estima que el 70% del tiempo de mantenimiento se destina a comprender el código, por lo que resulta importante poder medir la legibilidad de un fragmento de código fuente adecuadamente. La legibilidad se define como la facilidad con la que una persona puede leer y comprender un fragmento de código escrito por otra persona. Esta característica es crucial para facilitar la compresión del código durante las tareas de mantenimiento de software, por lo que resulta necesario poder medir la legibilidad del código fuente. Por lo tanto, a lo largo de los últimos años, los investigadores en el área han propuesto múltiples métricas para medir la legibilidad del código fuente. No obstante, sigue siendo un reto poder evaluar con precisión la legibilidad del código fuente de una forma ampliamente aceptada. Por ello, es indispensable dar continuidad a este tipo de investigaciones y, para esto, es necesario conocer los avances recientes. Este artículo presenta una síntesis y análisis de las métricas de legibilidad de código, mediante una revisión sistemática de literatura, mostrando una recopilación de las características y los métodos utilizados para su medición. Los resultados de este trabajo serán de utilidad para que los investigadores en el área puedan proponer nuevas métricas de legibilidad del código fuente. Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia 2020-09-18 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf application/xml https://revistas.uptc.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/11756 10.19053/01211129.v29.n54.2020.11756 Revista Facultad de Ingeniería; Vol. 29 No. 54 (2020): Continuos Publication; e11756 Revista Facultad de Ingeniería; Vol. 29 Núm. 54 (2020): Publicación Continua; e11756 2357-5328 0121-1129 spa https://revistas.uptc.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/11756/9622 https://revistas.uptc.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/11756/10010 Copyright (c) 2020 Ingrid Sofía Echavarría-Flórez, M.Sc., Felipe Restrepo-Calle, Ph. D. |
| spellingShingle | software readability source code software quality maintainability metrics software engineering legibilidad de código código fuente calidad de software mantenibilidad métricas ingeniería de software Echavarría-Flórez, Ingrid Sofía Restrepo-Calle, Felipe Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title | Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title_alt | Métricas de legibilidad del código fuente: revisión sistemática de literatura |
| title_full | Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title_fullStr | Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title_short | Software Readability Metrics: A Systematic Literature Review |
| title_sort | software readability metrics a systematic literature review |
| topic | software readability source code software quality maintainability metrics software engineering legibilidad de código código fuente calidad de software mantenibilidad métricas ingeniería de software |
| topic_facet | software readability source code software quality maintainability metrics software engineering legibilidad de código código fuente calidad de software mantenibilidad métricas ingeniería de software |
| url | https://revistas.uptc.edu.co/index.php/ingenieria/article/view/11756 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT echavarriaflorezingridsofia softwarereadabilitymetricsasystematicliteraturereview AT restrepocallefelipe softwarereadabilitymetricsasystematicliteraturereview AT echavarriaflorezingridsofia metricasdelegibilidaddelcodigofuenterevisionsistematicadeliteratura AT restrepocallefelipe metricasdelegibilidaddelcodigofuenterevisionsistematicadeliteratura |
