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Computer Science > Software Engineering

arXiv:2401.13407 (cs)
[Submitted on 24 Jan 2024]

Title:Increasing, not Diminishing: Investigating the Returns of
Highly Maintainable Code

Authors:Markus Borg, Ilyana Pruvost, Enys Mones, Adam Tornhill
Download a PDF of the paper titled Increasing, not Diminishing:
Investigating the Returns of Highly Maintainable Code, by Markus Borg
and Ilyana Pruvost and Enys Mones and Adam Tornhill
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    Abstract:Understanding and effectively managing Technical Debt
    (TD) remains a vital challenge in software engineering. While
    many studies on code-level TD have been published, few illustrate
    the business impact of low-quality source code. In this study, we
    combine two publicly available datasets to study the association
    between code quality on the one hand, and defect count and
    implementation time on the other hand. We introduce a
    value-creation model, derived from regression analyses, to
    explore relative changes from a baseline. Our results show that
    the associations vary across different intervals of code quality.
    Furthermore, the value model suggests strong non-linearities at
    the extremes of the code quality spectrum. Most importantly, the
    model suggests amplified returns on investment in the upper end.
    We discuss the findings within the context of the "broken
    windows" theory and recommend organizations to diligently prevent
    the introduction of code smells in files with high churn.
    Finally, we argue that the value-creation model can be used to
    initiate discussions regarding the return on investment in
    refactoring efforts.

          Paper accepted at the 7th International Conference on
Comments: Technical Debt 2024, Lisbon, Portugal, May 14-15, 2024. The
          replication package is available here: this https URL
Subjects: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
Cite as:  arXiv:2401.13407 [cs.SE]
          (or arXiv:2401.13407v1 [cs.SE] for this version)
          https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.13407
          Focus to learn more
          arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite

Submission history

From: Markus Borg [view email]
[v1] Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:05:06 UTC (1,716 KB)
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