Acknowledging Good Java Code with Code Perfumes

TL;DR

This paper introduces 'code perfumes', a novel Java code analysis technique that recognizes good programming practices, helping learners and educators by providing positive feedback and correlating with better code quality and student performance.

Contribution

The paper presents a new approach called code perfumes for Java, which highlights correct practices and correlates with improved code quality and student grades.

Findings

Code perfumes are frequent in learners' code.

Programs with more code perfumes tend to have better functionality.

Students using more code perfumes achieve higher grades.

Abstract

Java remains one of the most popular programming languages in education. Although Java programming education is well supported by study materials, learners also need more immediate support on the problems they face in their own code. When this support cannot be offered by educators personally, learners can resort to automated program analysis tools such as linters, which provide feedback on potential bugs or code issues. This is constructive feedback, but it may nevertheless feel like criticism. This paper introduces code perfumes for Java, a simple program analysis technique similar to linting, but commending the correct application of good programming practices. We present a catalogue of 20 Java code perfumes related to common Java language constructs for beginner to immediate learners. Our evaluation shows that these code perfumes occur frequently in learners' code, and programs with more code perfume instances tend to have better functionality and readability. Moreover, students who incorporate more code perfumes tend to achieve higher grades. Thus, code perfumes serve as a valuable tool to acknowledge learners' successes, and as a means to inform instructors about their learners' progress.