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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-23353
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dc.contributor.authorRani, Pooja-
dc.contributor.authorPanichella, Sebastiano-
dc.contributor.authorLeuenberger, Manuel-
dc.contributor.authorGhafari, Mohammad-
dc.contributor.authorNierstrasz, Oscar-
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-30T12:23:15Z-
dc.date.available2021-10-30T12:23:15Z-
dc.date.issued2021-
dc.identifier.issn1382-3256de_CH
dc.identifier.issn1573-7616de_CH
dc.identifier.urihttps://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/23353-
dc.description.abstractContext: Previous studies have characterized code comments in various programming languages, showing how high quality of code comments is crucial to support program comprehension activities, and to improve the effectiveness of maintenance tasks. However, very few studies have focused on understanding developer practices to write comments. None of them has compared such developer practices to the standard comment guidelines to study the extent to which developers follow the guidelines. Objective: Therefore, our goal is to investigate developer commenting practices and compare them to the comment guidelines. Method: This paper reports the first empirical study investigating commenting practices in Pharo Smalltalk. First, we analyze class comment evolution over seven Pharo versions. Then, we quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the information types embedded in class comments. Finally, we study the adherence of developer commenting practices to the official class comment template over Pharo versions. Results: Our results show that there is a rapid increase in class comments in the initial three Pharo versions, while in subsequent versions developers added comments to both new and old classes, thus maintaining a similar code to comment ratio. We furthermore found three times as many information types in class comments as those suggested by the template. However, the information types suggested by the template tend to be present more often than other types of information. Additionally, we find that a substantial proportion of comments follow the writing style of the template in writing these information types, but they are written and formatted in a non-uniform way. Conclusion: The results suggest the need to standardize the commenting guidelines for formatting the text, and to provide headers for the different information types to ensure a consistent style and to identify the information easily. Given the importance of high quality code comments, we draw numerous implications for developers and researchers to improve the support for comment quality assessment tools.de_CH
dc.language.isoende_CH
dc.publisherSpringerde_CH
dc.relation.ispartofEmpirical Software Engineeringde_CH
dc.rightshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/de_CH
dc.subjectCommenting practicede_CH
dc.subjectClass comment analysisde_CH
dc.subjectComment evolutionde_CH
dc.subjectTemplate analysisde_CH
dc.subjectPharode_CH
dc.subjectProgram comprehensionde_CH
dc.subject.ddc005: Computerprogrammierung, Programme und Datende_CH
dc.titleWhat do class comments tell us? : an investigation of comment evolution and practices in Pharo Smalltalkde_CH
dc.typeBeitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriftde_CH
dcterms.typeTextde_CH
zhaw.departementSchool of Engineeringde_CH
zhaw.organisationalunitInstitut für Informatik (InIT)de_CH
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5de_CH
dc.identifier.doi10.21256/zhaw-23353-
zhaw.funding.euNode_CH
zhaw.issue6de_CH
zhaw.originated.zhawYesde_CH
zhaw.pages.start112de_CH
zhaw.publication.statuspublishedVersionde_CH
zhaw.volume26de_CH
zhaw.publication.reviewPeer review (Publikation)de_CH
zhaw.funding.snf181973de_CH
zhaw.webfeedSoftware Systemsde_CH
zhaw.author.additionalNode_CH
zhaw.display.portraitYesde_CH
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Rani, P., Panichella, S., Leuenberger, M., Ghafari, M., & Nierstrasz, O. (2021). What do class comments tell us? : an investigation of comment evolution and practices in Pharo Smalltalk. Empirical Software Engineering, 26(6), 112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5
Rani, P. et al. (2021) ‘What do class comments tell us? : an investigation of comment evolution and practices in Pharo Smalltalk’, Empirical Software Engineering, 26(6), p. 112. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5.
P. Rani, S. Panichella, M. Leuenberger, M. Ghafari, and O. Nierstrasz, “What do class comments tell us? : an investigation of comment evolution and practices in Pharo Smalltalk,” Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 26, no. 6, p. 112, 2021, doi: 10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5.
RANI, Pooja, Sebastiano PANICHELLA, Manuel LEUENBERGER, Mohammad GHAFARI und Oscar NIERSTRASZ, 2021. What do class comments tell us? : an investigation of comment evolution and practices in Pharo Smalltalk. Empirical Software Engineering. 2021. Bd. 26, Nr. 6, S. 112. DOI 10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5
Rani, Pooja, Sebastiano Panichella, Manuel Leuenberger, Mohammad Ghafari, and Oscar Nierstrasz. 2021. “What Do Class Comments Tell Us? : An Investigation of Comment Evolution and Practices in Pharo Smalltalk.” Empirical Software Engineering 26 (6): 112. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5.
Rani, Pooja, et al. “What Do Class Comments Tell Us? : An Investigation of Comment Evolution and Practices in Pharo Smalltalk.” Empirical Software Engineering, vol. 26, no. 6, 2021, p. 112, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09981-5.


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