Fractal Beauty of Programming Style

摘要

The literature on how to write programs with good style is extensive but it contains almost no references to measuring sensori-emotional or aesthetic values in source. We study this problem and propose source beauty can be measured with a simple, relativistic model based on the fractal dimension. We hypothesize the model is statistically related to yet different from software complexity. Experiments using GNU/Linux source as the test bed indicate the model is only weakly or moderately correlated with software complexity yet in directions consistent with anecdotal prescriptions for good style. The data further indicates removing comments do not improve source beauty but neither does adding them, a finding at odds with advice in some style guides. Yet mnemonics are correlated with software complexity, which comports with model predictions and some style guide recommendations to make code "self-documenting." These results suggest the model may help developers craft and maintain beautiful codes as a best practice.