Influence of Personality on Programming Styles an Empirical Study

Abstract

Each programmer tend to his or her own style in programming and human factors may explain these differences in style which has considerable influence on tooling, processes and productivity. The objective of this paper is to study the influence of a previously un-investigated factor, personality, on programming styles. The authors did a survey study on 68 programmers in the University of Stuttgart. Programming experience, attitude towards programming, five personality factors, and programming styles were measured via self-assessed survey. The authors did statistical analysis to investigate links between human factors and programming styles. They found that programming experience is the most influential factor in programming styles but personality is more evident in different programming styles. They conclude that programming styles are a matter of personal preferences and help reveal the influence of personality in programming. Further research is needed to explore new programming styles, measure them and investigate the influence of personality on them.