ICPC 2026
Sun 12 - Mon 13 April 2026 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
co-located with ICSE 2026
Sun 12 Apr 2026 14:00 - 14:10 at Europa II - Session 2 - Human Aspects Chair(s): Alexander Serebrenik, Masud Rahman

Statically-annotated types have been shown to aid developers in a number of programming tasks, and this benefit holds true even when static type checking is not used. It is hypothesized that this is because developers use type annotations as in-code documentation. In this study, we aim to provide evidence that developers use type annotations as in-code documentation. Understanding this hypothesized use will help to understand how, and in what contexts, developers use type information; additionally, it may help to design better development tools and inform educational decisions. To provide this evidence, we conduct an eye tracking study with 26 undergraduate students to determine if they read type annotations during code comprehension and bug localization in the TypeScript language. We found that developers do not appear to gaze directly at lines containing type annotations or type declarations more often when they are present, in either code summarization or bug localization tasks. The results have implications for tool builders to improve the availability of type information, the development community to build good standards for use of type annotations, and education to enforce deliberate teaching of reading patterns.

Sun 12 Apr

Displayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change

14:00 - 15:30
Session 2 - Human AspectsResearch Track / Tool Demonstration / ICPC Program / Early Research Achievements (ERA) / Journal First at Europa II
Chair(s): Alexander Serebrenik Eindhoven University of Technology, Masud Rahman Dalhousie University
14:00
10m
Talk
Do Developers Read Type Information? An Eye-Tracking Study on TypeScript
Research Track
Samuel W. Flint Dakota State University, Robert Dyer University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Bonita Sharif University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Pre-print Media Attached
14:10
10m
Talk
Eye-Tracking Insights into the Effects of Type Annotations and Identifier Naming
Research Track
Nils Alznauer University of Bern, Norman Peitek Saarland University, Youssef Abdelsalam Saarland University, Annabelle Bergum Saarland University, Marvin Wyrich Saarland University, Sven Apel Saarland University
Pre-print
14:20
5m
Talk
Attention to Innovation: Linking Developer Gaze and Coding Approaches
Early Research Achievements (ERA)
Yahya Lafhal Polytechnique Montreal, Zohreh Sharafi Polytechnique Montréal, Mahta Amini Polytechnique Montréal
Pre-print
14:25
10m
Talk
Understanding the Low Inter-Rater Agreement on Aggressiveness on the Linux Kernel Mailing List
Journal First
Thomas Bock Carnegie Mellon University, Niklas Schneider Saarland University, Angelika Schmid IBM, Sven Apel Saarland University, Janet Siegmund Chemnitz University of Technology
Link to publication Media Attached
14:35
10m
Talk
Grasping AI Reliance in Program Comprehension and Coding through the AIRELI Persona Taxonomy
Research Track
Tarek Alakmeh University of Zurich, Norman Anderson University of Victoria, Victoria Jackson University of Southampton, Guilherme Vaz Pereira School of Technology, PUCRS, Brazil, Umit Akirmak University of Victoria, Anthony Estey University of British Columbia, Rafael Prikladnicki School of Technology at PUCRS University, Andre van der Hoek University of California, Irvine, Margaret-Anne Storey University of Victoria, Thomas Fritz University of Zurich
Pre-print Media Attached
14:45
10m
Talk
Put The "Code" Back in "Code Comprehension Study"
Research Track
Kyle D. Chin University of British Columbia, Reid Holmes University of British Columbia
DOI Pre-print
14:55
10m
Talk
The Way of Types: A Report on Developer Experience with Type-Driven Development
Research Track
Sára Juhošová Delft University of Technology, Andy Zaidman TU Delft, Jesper Cockx Delft University of Technology
Pre-print
15:05
10m
Talk
Understanding Codebase like a Professional! Human-AI Collaboration for Code Comprehension
Research Track
Jie (Sophia) Gao The Johns Hopkins University, Yue Xue MetaTrust Labs, Xiaofei Xie Singapore Management University, Junming Cao Fudan University, SoeMin THANT Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, Erika Lee University of California San Diego, Bowen Xu North Carolina State University
15:15
5m
Talk
Hyalinos: From Type Inference to Community Knowledge
Tool Demonstration
Larisa Safina INRIA Lillle - Nord Europe
15:21
9m
Live Q&A
Joint QA and Discussion
ICPC Program