Information Needs about Software Modification during Collaborative Development Tasks

关于软件工程师，PI有两个假设？代码审查期间的信息需求。第一个假设是，代码评审中不同的角色，如作者和审核者，会导致抽象级别上的不同信息需求；因此，现有的静态和动态程序分析没有区分信息生产者(代码作者)和消费者(代码审查者)的角色，可能不能有效地支持同行评审。第二个假设是，协作开发工具中的现有通信、感知和管理支持功能，如即时消息传递程序、电子邮件和工作流管理，提供了高级别但肤浅的信息，因为这些工具缺乏提供以代码为中心的信息的能力。为了验证这些假设，PI将使用几种实证研究方法，包括焦点小组、半结构访谈、案例研究和调查，以全面和系统地了解工程师？同行代码审查期间的信息需求。这项研究的结果将指导构建能让程序员满意的创新软件分析？信息需求，提高同行代码审查任务的有效性，最终提高程序员的生产力和软件质量。此外，这项研究将作为确定哪种类型的信息在哪种抽象级别上可以最好地支持开发人员检查软件修改的基础。这项研究的发现还将有助于开发必要的程序增量表示法、推理算法和基础结构，使工程师能够在高级别上对软件修改进行推理。

The PI has two hypotheses about software engineers? information needs during code reviews. The first hypothesis is that different roles in code review, such as an author and a reviewer, lead to different information needs in terms of abstraction levels; thus, existing static and dynamic program analysis that do not distinguish the role of information producer (code author) and consumer (code reviewer) may not be effective in supporting peer reviews. The second hypothesis is that existing communication, awareness, and management support features in collaborative development tools such as an instant messenger, email, and work-flow management provide high-level, yet shallow information, as these tools lack in the ability to provide code-centric information. In order to test these hypotheses, the PI will use several empirical study methods, including focus groups, semi-structured interviews, case studies, and surveys, to acquire comprehensive and systematic understanding of engineers? information needs during peer code reviews. The outcome of this study will guide the construction of innovative software analyses that can satisfy programmers? information needs, improving the effectiveness of peer code review tasks, ultimately improving programmer productivity and software quality. Furthermore, this study will serve as a basis for identifying what types of information at which abstraction level can best support developers in examining software modification. The findings from this study will also contribute to developing necessary program delta representations, inference algorithms, and infrastructures that will enable engineers to reason about software modification at a high level.