Improving the Teaching of Software Design with Automated Modelling of Syntactic Dependencies

We present the use of a new IDE plugin for introducing students to the analysis of software design. Without a concrete method to evaluate their ideas, designing for modifiability was a challenging topic for our students. Prior work showed that students can quickly learn about dependency graphs and use them to make design decisions. However, students frequently made mistakes creating the graphs and identifying ripple effects. We developed a tool that automatically generates dependency graphs from code. The plugin allows users to select seed modifications and then highlights dependent modules. The tool removed the common mistakes from the process and enabled us to teach design to students with less experience. In this paper, we present our findings teaching workshops for second-year undergraduates using the tool. The students were able to use the tool to analyze and compare designs. Students indicated they are likely to continue to use the technique.