Teaching the process of code review

Behavioural theory predicts that interventions that improve individual reviewers´ expertise also improve the performance of the group in Software Development Technical Reviews (SDTR) [C. Sauer et al.,(2000)]. This includes improvements both in individual´s expertise in the review process, as well as their ability to find defects and distinguish true defects from false positives. We present findings from University training in these skills using authentic problems. The first year the course was run it was designed around actual code review sessions, the second year this was expanded to enable students to develop and trial their own generic process for document reviews. This report considers the values and shortcomings of the teaching program from an extensive analysis of the defect detection in the first year, when students were involved in a review process that was set up for them, and student feedback from the second year when students developed and analysed their own process.