CleanGame: Gamifying the Identification of Code Smells

Refactoring is the process of transforming the internal structure of existing code without changing its observable behavior. Many studies have shown that refactoring increases program maintainability and understandability. Due to these benefits, refactoring is recognized as a best practice in the software development community. However, prior to refactoring activities, developers need to look for refactoring opportunities, i.e., developers need to be able to identify code smells, which essentially are instances of poor design and ill-considered implementation choices that may hinder code maintainability and understandability. However, code smell identification is overlooked in the Computer Science curriculum. Recently, Software Engineering educators have started exploring gamification, which entails using game elements in non-game contexts, to improve instructional outcomes in educational settings. The potential of gamification lies in supporting and motivating students, enhancing the learning process and its outcomes. We set out to evaluate the extent to which such claim is valid in the context of post-training reinforcement. To this end, we devised and implemented CleanGame, which is a gamified tool that covers one important aspect of the refactoring curriculum: code smell identification. We also carried out an experiment involving eighteen participants to probe into the effectiveness of gamification in the context of post-training reinforcement. We found that, on average, participants managed to identify twice as much code smells during learning reinforcement with a gamified approach in comparison to a non-gamified approach. Moreover, we administered a post-experiment attitudinal survey to the participants. According to the results of such survey, most participants showed a positive attitude towards CleanGame.