The influence of color on program readability and comprehensibility

ABSTRACT

Readability and comprehensibility are among the most important attributes of a program. A program that is easy to read and understand is easier to test, maintain, and modify. Many factors affect program readability and comprehensibility, including variable names, internal documentation, modularity, and so on. This paper investigates the influence of color on program readability and comprehension. Three color schemes were used: Color-scheme-A used different colors to indicate the different blocks in a program; Color-scheme-B used different colors to identify the various statements function in the program; and the third color scheme was the usual black-and-white programs. This study showed that subjects who used programs with Color-scheme-B had the highest mean score for program comprehension, followed by those who used Color-scheme-A. Subjects who used black-and-white programs scored the lowest on the comprehension quiz.

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INDEX TERMS

Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: User interfaces
      D.2.8 Metrics
          Subjects: Performance measures

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors, Performance