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The influence of commenting validity, placement, and style on perceptions of computer code trustworthiness: A heuristic-systematic processing approach.

Computer programs are a ubiquitous part of modern society, yet little is known about the psychological processes that underlie reviewing code. We applied the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) to investigate the influence of computer code comments on perceptions of code trustworthiness. The study expl...

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Published in:Applied Ergonomics Vol. 70; pp. 182 - 194
Main Authors: Alarcon, Gene M., Gamble, Rose F., Ryan, Tyler J., Walter, Charles, Jessup, Sarah A., Wood, David W., Capiola, August
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier B.V. Jul2018
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: Jul2018
      vid: 70
      pid: 82545
      pub: Elsevier B.V.
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        10.1016/j.apergo.2018.02.027
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        atl: The influence of commenting validity, placement, and style on perceptions of computer code trustworthiness: A heuristic-systematic processing approach.
      aug:
        au:
          Alarcon, Gene M.
          Gamble, Rose F.
          Ryan, Tyler J.
          Walter, Charles
          Jessup, Sarah A.
          Wood, David W.
          Capiola, August
        affil: Air Force Research Laboratory, United States
      sug:
        subj:
          Trust
          Software Standards
          Perception
          Quality Control (Technology)
          Time Factors
          Middle Age
          Adult
          Female
          Young Adult
          Adolescence
          Male
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Computer programs are a ubiquitous part of modern society, yet little is known about the psychological processes that underlie reviewing code. We applied the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) to investigate the influence of computer code comments on perceptions of code trustworthiness. The study explored the influence of validity, placement, and style of comments in code on trustworthiness perceptions and time spent on code. Results indicated valid comments led to higher trust assessments and more time spent on the code. Properly placed comments led to lower trust assessments and had a marginal effect on time spent on code; however, the effect was no longer significant after controlling for effects of the source code. Low style comments led to marginally higher trustworthiness assessments, but high style comments led to longer time spent on the code. Several interactions were also found. Our findings suggest the relationship between code comments and perceptions of code trustworthiness is not as straightforward as previously thought. Additionally, the current paper extends the HSM to the programming literature.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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