Abstract
Context: Code smells are associated to poor design and programming style, which often degrades code quality and hampers code comprehensibility and maintainability. Goal: identify published studies that provide evidence of the influence of code smells on the occurrence of software bugs. Method: We conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to reach the stated goal. Results: The SLR selected studies from July 2007 to September 2017, which analyzed the source code of open source software projects and several code smells. Based on evidence of 16 studies covered in this SLR, we conclude that 24 code smells are more influential in the occurrence of bugs relative to the remaining smells analyzed. In contrast, three studies reported that at least 6 code smells are less influential in such occurrences. Evidence from the selected studies also point out tools, techniques, and procedures that should be applied to analyze the influence of the smells. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first SLR to target this goal. This study provides an up-to-date and structured understanding of the influence of code smells on the occurrence of software bugs based on findings systematically collected from a list of relevant references in the latest decade.
Highlights
Ever increasing maintenance costs are often a consequence of poor software design, bad coding style, and undisciplined practices
This study aims to provide a detailed panorama of the state-of-the-art analyses on how code smells influence the occurrence of bugs in software projects, as well as tools, resources, and techniques that support the analysis
We performed a systematic literature review and investigated studies published in top software engineering venues
Summary
Ever increasing maintenance costs are often a consequence of poor software design, bad coding style, and undisciplined practices. Code smells [2] are symptoms in source code that are indicative of bad style and/or design. They violate good practices and design principles, affecting understanding and maintenance and promoting a negative impact on software quality and ease of evolution [3]. Many techniques use software metrics to detect code smells, some of which are metrics extracted from third-party tools and subsequently applied threshold values. Though many studies discussed code smells, just a relatively small number focused on the analysis of the influence of code smells on the occurrence of bugs in software
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