Revisiting code smells in block based languages
Kashif Amanullah, Tim Bell · Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education · 2020
Code smells in block based languages have received much attention in recent years. There is a concern that they should be targeted early so that learners develop good programming habits. This study revisits the code smells identified in earlier work and explores each with an in-depth analysis using large samples from actual Scratch projects in order to better identify the causes of the smells, reflect on which may be a consequence of the language or the lack of experience of beginner programmers, and to consider strategies and pedagogies that can be adopted to mitigate the impact.