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<p>*</p> <p><b>New page</b></p><div>Found at<br /> http://www2.umassd.edu/SWPI/ProcessBibliography/bib-codereading2I-P.html<br /> <br /> <br /> Miara, J. R., J. A. Musselman, J. A. Navarro, and B. Shneiderman. Program<br /> Indentation and Comprehensibility. Comm. ACM 26, 11 (Nov. 1983), 861-867. <br /> <br /> Abstract: The consensus in the programming community is that indentation<br /> aids program comprehension, although many studies do not back this up. We<br /> tested program comprehension on a Pascal program. Two styles of indentation<br /> were used-blocked and nonblocked- in addition to four possible levels of<br /> indentation (0, 2, 4, 6 spaces). Both experienced and novice subjects were<br /> used. Although blocking style made no difference, the level of indentation<br /> had a significant effect on program comprehension. (2-4 spaces had the<br /> highest mean score for program comprehension.) We recommend that a moderate<br /> level of indentation be used to increase program comprehension and user<br /> satisfaction.<br /> <br /> This paper addresses the impact of indentation and blocking on program<br /> comprehension. By blocked indentation, the authors mean that statements<br /> immediately within a begin ... end pair share a common left margin with<br /> those delimiting keywords. In nonblocked style, the delimited statements are<br /> indented further. The authors review previous studies of indentation, noting<br /> that their support for the hypothesis that program indentation aids program<br /> readability and comprehension is, at best, ambiguous. They explain possible<br /> reasons for the discrepancy between their results and those reported by<br /> others. The results of the experiments reported here favor the view that<br /> indentation aids comprehension, but they also show that excessive<br /> indentation (6 or more spaces) does not increase the effect. Interestingly<br /> enough, the novices in the study reacted very favorably to indented code and<br /> rejected the nonindented program. Experts, on the other hand, showed no such<br /> prejudice. This is a good paper on the effect of formatting practices. The<br /> experiment was done carefully, which makes it especially relevant to those<br /> interested in empirical studies. The practical wisdom to take away from the<br /> paper is simple:<br /> indent code three spaces to show its structure. This paper is recommended<br /> for both instructors and students.</div>

JonCruz