Using static analysis tools to assist student project evaluation

Abstract

Code review and static analysis tools are acknowledged as important instruments in software quality control and are used in the industry on a daily basis. In this exploratory study we examine how a well-known static analysis tool can be employed to assess the quality of student solutions to coding assignments. We examine all student solutions submitted to fulfill coding assignments required as part of an introductory programming course taught using Python. We show how teaching staff can evaluate the progress of individual students and how coding mistakes common to many students can be highlighted. We also show how teaching staff can improve their own understanding of perceived assignment complexity by evaluating the aggregate quality of student submitted source code.