Collaborative learning environment for identifier naming in source codes

In most software development projects, it is impossible to avoid reading and understanding source codes written by other programmers. To render software products understandable and maintainable, proper identifier naming is a key issue that needs to be addressed. It is well known that proper identifier naming influences the readability and understandability of the source code, and thus many researchers have discussed the influence of identifier naming on the quality of source codes.The education of novice programmers toward becoming high quality systems engineers should therefore include training in proper identifier naming. This paper proposes a way to teach proper identifier naming in a collaborative learning environment that offers both majority rule and subject design based on a software development process view.