Promoting Deliberate Naming Practices in Programming Education: A Set of Interactive Educational Activities

Abstract

Despite extensive studies from the software engineering community on how naming practices influence programming behavior, the topic receives little attention in education. Prior work indicated little agreement on good naming because it depends on many factors. Students are told that "naming is important'' and "should be meaningful,'' yet its practical implementation is rarely discussed and feedback is lacking. The current work presents a dialogic teaching approach focused on teaching a critical reflection on naming practices through five activity types: (A) perceptions and experiences, (B) create names, (C) evaluate through ranking, (D) compare codes, and (E) locate a mistake. We developed, ran, and analyzed a one-hour workshop, that we present here and share our experiences, leading to recommendations for teachers. Our contribution is twofold: (1) we provide a set of (adaptable) activities and exercises for supporting deliberate naming practices, thereby assisting teachers interested in adopting naming practices into their curriculum; (2) we provide insights regarding the student perspective on naming practices, derived from the activities, revealing potential issues and opportunities in teaching the topic.

Authors 4

1. Vivian van der Werf Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

2. Felienne Hermans

   Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

3. Marcus M. Specht

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

4. Efthimia Aivaloglou

   Delft University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands