Typographic style is more than cosmetic

TLDR

There is disagreement about the role and importance of typographic style (source code formatting and commenting) in program comprehension. This article presents principles of typographic style consistent and compatible with the results of program comprehension studies. While prior studies and style books report mixed results, four experiments in this article show that the proposed typographic style principles improve program comprehension and lower maintenance effort. Authors' abstract.

Abstract

There is disagreement about the role and importance of typographic style (source code formatting and commenting) in program comprehension. Results from experiments and opinions in programming style books are mixed. This article presents principles of typographic style consistent and compatible with the results of program comprehension studies. Four experiments demonstrate that the typographic style principles embodied in the book format significantly aid program comprehension and reduce maintenance effort. —Authors' Abstract