Identifier names play a significant role in program comprehension activities, with high-quality names improving developer productivity and system quality. To correct poor-quality names, developers rename identifiers to reflect their intended purpose better. However, renames do not always result in high-quality, long-lasting names; in many cases, developers perform multiple rename operations on the same identifier throughout the system's lifetime. In this paper, we report on a large-scale empirical study that examines the occurrence of identifiers undergoing multiple renames (i.e., rename chains). Our findings show the presence of rename chains in almost every project, with methods typically having more rename chains than other identifier types. Furthermore, it is usually the same developer responsible for creating all renames within a chain, with most names maintaining the same grammatical structure. Understanding rename chains can help us provide stronger advice, and targeted research, on how to craft high-quality, long-lasting identifiers.
翻译:标识名称在方案理解活动中起着重要作用, 高质量的名称可以提高开发商的生产率和系统质量。 为了纠正劣质的名称, 开发商重新命名标识符以更好地反映其预期目的。 但是, 重命名并不总能产生高质量的、 长效的名称; 在许多情况下, 开发商在整个系统寿命期内对同一标识符进行多重重命名操作。 在本文件中, 我们报告一项大规模的经验性研究, 研究多重重命名( 即重命名链) 的发现。 我们的研究结果显示, 几乎每个项目都存在重命名链, 其方法通常比其他识别符类型更具有重命名链。 此外, 重命名链中的所有重命名通常都是同一个开发商, 而大多数名称都保持相同的语法结构。 了解重命名链可以帮助我们提供更强有力的建议, 并进行有针对性的研究, 如何制作高质量、 长效的标识符。