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ICSE 2021
Mon 17 May - Sat 5 June 2021

In-app advertisements have become a major revenue source for app developers in the mobile app ecosystem. Ad libraries play an integral part in this ecosystem as app developers integrate these libraries into their apps to display ads. In this paper, we study ad library integration practices by analyzing 35,459 updates of 1,837 top free-to-download apps of the Google Play Store. We observe that ad libraries (e.g., Google AdMob) are not always used for serving ads – 22.5% of the apps that integrate Google AdMob do not display ads. They instead depend on Google AdMob for analytical purposes. Among the apps that display ads, we observe that 57.9% of them integrate multiple ad libraries. We observe that such integration of multiple ad libraries occurs commonly in apps with a large number of downloads and ones in app categories with a high proportion of ad-displaying apps. We manually analyze a sample of apps and derive a set of rules to automatically identify four common strategies for integrating multiple ad libraries. Our analysis of the apps across the identified strategies shows that app developers prefer to manage their own integrations instead of using off-the-shelf features of ad libraries for integrating multiple ad libraries. Our findings are valuable for ad library developers who wish to learn first hand about the challenges of integrating ad libraries.

Tue 25 May

Displayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change

19:35 - 20:55
1.5.3. API: Usage and RefactoringTechnical Track / SEIP - Software Engineering in Practice / Journal-First Papers at Blended Sessions Room 3 +12h
Chair(s): Giuseppe Scanniello University of Basilicata
19:35
20m
Paper
Automatically Identifying Parameter Constraints in Complex Web APIs: A Case Study at AdyenSEIP
SEIP - Software Engineering in Practice
Henk Grent Adyen N.V., Aleksei Akimov Adyen N.V., Maurício Aniche Delft University of Technology
Pre-print Media Attached
19:55
20m
Paper
SOAR: A Synthesis Approach for Data Science API RefactoringArtifact ReusableTechnical TrackArtifact Available
Technical Track
Ansong Ni Yale University, Daniel Ramos Carnegie Mellon University, Aidan Z.H. Yang Carnegie Mellon University, Ines Lynce INESC-ID/IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Vasco Manquinho INESC-ID/IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Ruben Martins Carnegie Mellon University, Claire Le Goues Carnegie Mellon University
Pre-print Media Attached
20:15
20m
Paper
Studying Ad Library Integration Strategies of Top Free-to-Download AppsJournal-First
Journal-First Papers
Md Ahasanuzzaman Queen's University, Safwat Hassan Thompson Rivers University, Ahmed E. Hassan School of Computing, Queen's University
Link to publication DOI Pre-print Media Attached
20:35
20m
Paper
Are Machine Learning Cloud APIs Used Correctly?Artifact ReusableTechnical Track
Technical Track
Chengcheng Wan University of Chicago, Shicheng Liu University of Chicago, Henry Hoffmann University of Chicago, Michael Maire University of Chicago, Shan Lu University of Chicago
Pre-print Media Attached

Wed 26 May

Displayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change

07:35 - 08:55
07:35
20m
Paper
Automatically Identifying Parameter Constraints in Complex Web APIs: A Case Study at AdyenSEIP
SEIP - Software Engineering in Practice
Henk Grent Adyen N.V., Aleksei Akimov Adyen N.V., Maurício Aniche Delft University of Technology
Pre-print Media Attached
07:55
20m
Paper
SOAR: A Synthesis Approach for Data Science API RefactoringArtifact ReusableTechnical TrackArtifact Available
Technical Track
Ansong Ni Yale University, Daniel Ramos Carnegie Mellon University, Aidan Z.H. Yang Carnegie Mellon University, Ines Lynce INESC-ID/IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Vasco Manquinho INESC-ID/IST, Universidade de Lisboa, Ruben Martins Carnegie Mellon University, Claire Le Goues Carnegie Mellon University
Pre-print Media Attached
08:15
20m
Paper
Studying Ad Library Integration Strategies of Top Free-to-Download AppsJournal-First
Journal-First Papers
Md Ahasanuzzaman Queen's University, Safwat Hassan Thompson Rivers University, Ahmed E. Hassan School of Computing, Queen's University
Link to publication DOI Pre-print Media Attached
08:35
20m
Paper
Are Machine Learning Cloud APIs Used Correctly?Artifact ReusableTechnical Track
Technical Track
Chengcheng Wan University of Chicago, Shicheng Liu University of Chicago, Henry Hoffmann University of Chicago, Michael Maire University of Chicago, Shan Lu University of Chicago
Pre-print Media Attached