Information Needs about Software Modification during Collaborative Development Tasks

PI对软件工程师有两个假设？代码审查期间的信息需求。第一个假设是，代码审查中的不同角色，例如作者和审查者，会导致抽象级别方面的不同信息需求;因此，现有的静态和动态程序分析不区分信息生产者（代码作者）和消费者（代码审查者）的角色可能无法有效支持同行评审。第二个假设是，现有的通信，意识和管理支持功能的协作开发工具，如即时通讯，电子邮件和工作流管理提供高层次的，但浅的信息，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，半结构化访谈，案例研究和调查，以获得全面和系统的了解工程师？在同行代码评审过程中的信息需求。这项研究的结果将指导建设创新的软件分析，可以满足程序员？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，这项研究将作为一个基础，确定什么类型的信息在哪个抽象级别可以最好地支持开发人员在检查软件修改。这项研究的结果也将有助于开发必要的程序增量表示，推理算法和基础设施，使工程师能够在高层次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.