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ICPC 2020
Mon 13 - Wed 15 July 2020
co-located with ICSE 2020
Tue 14 Jul 2020 15:00 - 15:12 at ICPC - Session 7: About Developers Chair(s): Wahab Hamou-Lhadj

Developers and computing students are usually expected to master multiple programming languages. To learn a new language, developers often turn to online search to find information and code examples. However, insights on how learners perform code search when working with an unfamiliar language are lacking. Understanding how learners search and the challenges they encounter when using an unfamiliar language can motivate future tools and techniques to better support subsequent language learners. Research on code search behavior typically involves monitoring developers during search activities through logs or in situ surveys. We conducted a study on how computing students search for code in an unfamiliar programming language with 18 graduate students working on VBA tasks in a lab environment. Our surveys explicitly asked about search success and query reformulation to gather reliable data on those metrics. By analyzing the combination of search logs and survey responses, we found that students typically search to explore APIs or find example code. Approximately 50% of queries that precede clicks on documentation or tutorials successfully solved the problem. Students frequently borrowed terms from languages with which they are familiar when searching for examples in an unfamiliar language, but term borrowing did not impede search success. Edit distances between reformulated queries and non-reformulated queries were nearly the same. These results have implications for code search research, especially on reformulation, and for research on supporting programmers when learning a new language.

Tue 14 Jul

Displayed time zone: (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time change

15:00 - 16:00
Session 7: About DevelopersIndustry / Research / Programming Education at ICPC
Chair(s): Wahab Hamou-Lhadj Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
15:00
12m
Paper
How Graduate Computing Students Search When Using an Unfamiliar Programming Language
Research
Gina Bai North Carolina State University, Joshua Kayani , Kathryn Stolee North Carolina State University
Pre-print Media Attached
15:12
12m
Paper
What Drives the Reading Order of Programmers? An Eye Tracking Study
Research
Norman Peitek Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Janet Siegmund TU Chemnitz, Sven Apel Saarland University
Pre-print Media Attached
15:24
12m
Paper
Evaluating a Visual Approach for Understanding JavaScript Source Code
Research
Martín Dias University of Chile, Diego Orellana University of Chile, Santiago Vidal ISISTAN-CONICET, Leonel Merino University of Stuttgart, Alexandre Bergel University of Chile
Pre-print Media Attached
15:36
12m
Paper
How do Students Experience and Judge Software Comprehension Techniques?
Programming Education
Regina Hebig University of Gothenburg, Truong Ho-Quang , Rodi Jolak Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Jan Schroeder Chalmers | University of Gothenburg, Linero Humberto Chalmers University of Technology, Ågren Magnus Chalmers University of Technology, Salome Maro Chalmers | University of Gothenburg
Media Attached
15:48
12m
Paper
Understanding What Software Engineers Are Working on — The Work-Item Prediction Challenge
Industry
Ralf Laemmel Facebook London, Alvin Kerber Facebook, Liane Praza
Pre-print Media Attached