Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Open Access)

Department

Colby College. Computer Science Dept.

Advisor(s)

Naser Al Madi

Abstract

High-quality code is universally pursued by software developers, and one of the most effective indicators of code quality is code style. However, code style is difficult to teach, particularly to introductory students and programmers who benefit most. In this project, we aim to investigate how online tools can improve and teach Python code style, as well as identify the role of gamification in the process. We build an online platform called Fishy that combines code style appraisal tools and utilizes gamification concepts. Our platform incorporates educational metrics such as a code analysis score and targeted quizzes to assess user performance. We conduct a human experiment (n=25) with participants who are given a code sample, asked to use both Fishy and the conventional pylint code analyzer to improve the code style of their sample, are assessed on their learning, and provide evaluative feedback on the experience. We measure participant success in improving code style under a short time frame, participant learning and retention, and the effect of gamification elements through participant feedback. We find that Fishy is a significantly more helpful tool at improving participant code style in the moment, but is not more effective than pylint in terms of participant learning, although the gamification elements of Fishy make the experience of using the tool more motivating and rewarding. Our results suggest that gamification is a promising approach to learning code style, but more in-depth interventions are needed for achieving higher retention rates.

Keywords

code style, code quality, maintainable code, gamification, learning

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