The Babel of Software Development: Linguistic Diversity in Open Source
The Babel of Software Development: Linguistic Diversity in Open Source
复制标题
软件开发的巴别塔：开源的语言多样性
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. Brand
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bogdan Vasilescu;Alexander Serebrenik;M. Brand
一方面，开源软件（OSS）开发社区通常是非常专业化的，另一方面，他们经历了很高的人员流动。专业化和人员更替的结合可能导致用某种编程语言实现的系统的某些部分变得不可维护，如果这种语言的知识随着退休的开发人员一起消失了。受自然语言研究中语言多样性度量的启发，我们提出了一种方法来量化用某种编程语言实现的代码没有维护者的风险。为了说明我们的方法，我们研究了与Emacs中不同语言相关的风险，并发现了由于高受欢迎程度而风险较低的示例（例如，C, Emacs Lisp）；与流行语言（如c++、Java、Python）相似，风险低；或者由于与流行语言（例如Lex）的低流行度和低相似性而存在高风险。我们的研究结果表明，社会科学的方法可以成功地应用于信息系统的研究，并为未来的研究开辟了许多途径。
Open source software (OSS) development communities are typically very specialised, on the one hand, and experience high turnover, on the other. Combination of specialization and turnover can cause parts of the system implemented in a certain programming language to become unmaintainable, if knowledge of that language has disappeared together with the retiring developers. Inspired by measures of linguistic diversity from the study of natural languages, we propose a method to quantify the risk of not having maintainers for code implemented in a certain programming language. To illustrate our approach, we studied risks associated with different languages in Emacs, and found examples of low risk due to high popularity (e.g., C, Emacs Lisp); low risk due to similarity with popular languages (e.g., C++, Java, Python); or high risk due to both low popularity and low similarity with popular languages (e.g., Lex). Our results show that methods from the social sciences can be successfully applied in the study of information systems, and open numerous avenues for future research.