Theme
Description
With better tool support, understanding source code becomes easier. Integrated development environments (IDEs) are especially relevant for programming languages with features like syntax highlighting and jumping to references (or into implementation details).
During the experiment, the environment the participants read source code in was controlled and the same for both languages (a web browser without syntax highlighting). But both Python and Jayvee are supported by Visual Studio Code and participants had previously worked with that.
Also relevant, though not mentioned in the surveys is the vastly better support for Python and Pandas code when using LLMs like ChatGPT. Participants could not access LLMs during the experiment but made extensive use of them during other exercises.
Representative Quotes
Good to see support of vs code plugins (for Jayvee) (…) What makes data pipelines written in Python difficult/easy to understand? Code Intellisense support from IDEs like Pycharm, Visual Studio Code.
- S35