Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code
Refactoring code is an important skill to become a competent software engineer, however it is usually never explicitly taught in coding intensive courses. Even though engineers in academia and industry agree refactoring is important, most novice programmers are unaware of the code smells they should...
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Format: | Thesis |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2023
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151544 |
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author | Leyva, Mario |
author2 | Miller, Robert C. |
author_facet | Miller, Robert C. Leyva, Mario |
author_sort | Leyva, Mario |
collection | MIT |
description | Refactoring code is an important skill to become a competent software engineer, however it is usually never explicitly taught in coding intensive courses. Even though engineers in academia and industry agree refactoring is important, most novice programmers are unaware of the code smells they should avoid when writing code. This thesis discusses a novel tutoring system to assist novice programmers with refactoring. This tool provides refactoring exercises to students in an introductory programming class. The tutor exposes students to various types of code smells and has them deliberately practice how to refactor. The tutor infrastructure has proven to be robust to several refactoring exercises. Based on a user study involving the students and the staff members from 6.1010: Fundamentals of Programming, the tutor infrastructure has shown to be robust to bugs and staff feedback. The tutor shows promise, but further studies with more students are necessary to evaluate its effectiveness on teaching student refactoring. |
first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:46Z |
format | Thesis |
id | mit-1721.1/151544 |
institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:43:46Z |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | mit-1721.1/1515442023-08-01T04:02:19Z Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code Leyva, Mario Miller, Robert C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Refactoring code is an important skill to become a competent software engineer, however it is usually never explicitly taught in coding intensive courses. Even though engineers in academia and industry agree refactoring is important, most novice programmers are unaware of the code smells they should avoid when writing code. This thesis discusses a novel tutoring system to assist novice programmers with refactoring. This tool provides refactoring exercises to students in an introductory programming class. The tutor exposes students to various types of code smells and has them deliberately practice how to refactor. The tutor infrastructure has proven to be robust to several refactoring exercises. Based on a user study involving the students and the staff members from 6.1010: Fundamentals of Programming, the tutor infrastructure has shown to be robust to bugs and staff feedback. The tutor shows promise, but further studies with more students are necessary to evaluate its effectiveness on teaching student refactoring. M.Eng. 2023-07-31T19:47:32Z 2023-07-31T19:47:32Z 2023-06 2023-06-06T16:35:28.183Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151544 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
spellingShingle | Leyva, Mario Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title | Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for
Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title_full | Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for
Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title_fullStr | Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for
Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title_full_unstemmed | Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for
Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title_short | Refactoring Tutor: An IDE Integrated Tool for
Practicing Key Techniques to Refactor Code |
title_sort | refactoring tutor an ide integrated tool for practicing key techniques to refactor code |
url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151544 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT leyvamario refactoringtutoranideintegratedtoolforpracticingkeytechniquestorefactorcode |