Effectively teaching coding standards in programming

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we report on a study that was carried out to investigate students' opinions on learning and accepting coding standards in programming courses. We used a questionnaire survey to gather data. We also used the information observed from our teaching practices. An analysis of the data indicated that most students' believe coding standards are important in programming courses but tend not to comply with them, thus implying possible flaws in the teaching strategies used. We also present current strategies we use for teaching coding standards, and evaluate them for effectiveness. In doing so, we propose strategies that are likely to be effective in teaching coding standards as they would be used in industry, and present suggestions for further studies that can be carried out to implement these strategies.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.0 General

General Terms:
Documentation, Human Factors, Standardization

Keywords:
coding standards, teaching programming