Abstract
Code smell detection can automatically identify code smells in software source code to help developers to improve code maintainability, readability, and overall code quality. Currently, a wide variety of code smell detection techniques/tools are proposed for practical use. However, it is unclear what practitioners expect for code smell detection tools and whether the existing research meets their needs. To fill the gap, we conduct an empirical study. We first interview 10 software development professionals and subsequently survey 310 software practitioners about their practices and expectations of code smell detection tools. In addition, we conduct an extensive literature review of code smell detection papers published in major publications from 2014 to 2024, and compare current research findings with practitioners' expectations. From this comparison, we highlight the direction in which researchers need to work to develop code smell detection techniques that are important to practitioners. Index Terms-Code Smell Detection, Empirical Study, Practitioners' Expectations I. I NTRODUCTION As software systems become larger and more complex, software quality attracts the attention of researchers in the field of software engineering [1]-[5]. One important aspect that affects software quality is code smell. Code smell refers to certain symptoms or indications in the source code that suggest there may be underlying problems or potential design flaws [6]-[8]. Code smell detection aims to automatically identify code smells in software source code to ensure code quality, improve software maintainability, and promote good programming practices. Despite the large amount of research in code smell detection, few studies have investigated practitioners' expectations of code smell detection tools. It remains unclear whether practitioners appreciate current code smell detection tools, what factors influence their decision to adopt them, and what is the minimum threshold for their adoption. Practitioner perspectives are important to help guide researchers in creating solutions that satisfy developers. In this paper, we begin with semi-structured interviews with 10 professionals with an