Understanding and Supporting Information Needs of Software Development Tasks

理解和支持软件开发任务的信息需求

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06004
• 负责人: Anvik, John
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of Lethbridge
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=714028
• 关键词: Understanding; Supporting; Information; Needs; Software

The goal of this research program is to improve the bug report triage process. Bug report triage is the process by which bug reports submitted to a software project's “bug tracker”, or issue tracking system (ITS), are examined to decide what to do with the report. For example, a report may be examined to determine if the problem described is already reported, if the problem is reproducible, or if the part of the software reported to be affected by the problem is correct. In cases where the problem needs to be fixed, the triager decides who will fix the bug. When a triager performs triage, they search for information to make their decisions. Examples of such information includes: recently submitted or changed reports, duplicate reports, active development areas of the code, and developer workload. The general theme is that of filtering and grouping bug reports. Although the ITS commonly provides a means for searching bug report fields, evidence suggests that this is not enough for both triagers and developers. Existing search capabilities that provide results as a list do not show how reports are interrelated; information needed to make duplicate or assignment decisions. This research program will conduct a larger study of triage practices and information needs than has been previously done. Based on this information, software will be developed that assists in creating and configuring recommenders that make it more efficient for triagers to do their tasks. Examples of such recommenders are ones that suggest which developer should fix a bug and which part of the software a bug report is describing. These tools will allow triagers to be more efficient, which in turn can reduce software maintenance costs and improve software product quality. Reducing maintenance costs will allow Canadian software companies to make better use of their existing resources which will encourage growth, and improved software quality can give Canadian software companies a competitive edge in the global economy. More generally, by expanding our knowledge of current triage practices, Canadian software tool development companies and researchers will be better able to understand triagers' needs and practices. Also, triagers benefit by having tools that reduce their workload so they can focus on tasks that improve the software product, rather than being overwhelmed by the number of incoming bug reports. Researchers benefit from tools that allow them to better replicate previous research results. Beyond bug report triage, knowledge of how to assist in recommender creation and presentation of recommendations to software developers will inform improvements for other types of software engineering recommender systems.

这项研究计划的目标是改进错误报告分类流程。错误报告分类是对提交给软件项目的“错误跟踪器”或问题跟踪系统(ITS)的错误报告进行检查以决定如何处理该报告的过程。例如，可以检查报告以确定是否已经报告了所描述的问题、该问题是否可重现、或者被报告为受该问题影响的软件部分是否正确。在需要修复问题的情况下，分拣人员决定谁来修复错误。 当分诊员进行分诊时，他们会搜索信息来做出决定。此类信息的示例包括：最近提交或更改的报告、重复报告、代码的活动开发区域和开发人员工作负载。总的主题是对错误报告进行筛选和分组。尽管ITS通常提供了一种搜索错误报告字段的方法，但有证据表明，这对分级者和开发人员来说都是不够的。现有的以列表形式提供结果的搜索功能没有显示报告是如何相互关联的；做出重复或分配决定所需的信息。 这项研究计划将对分类实践和信息需求进行比以前更大规模的研究。根据这些信息，将开发软件，帮助创建和配置推荐器，使分流人员更有效地完成任务。这类推荐器的例子是建议哪个开发人员应该修复错误，以及错误报告描述了软件的哪个部分。 这些工具将使分拣人员更有效率，进而可以降低软件维护成本，提高软件产品质量。降低维护成本将使加拿大软件公司能够更好地利用现有资源，这将促进增长，而软件质量的提高可以使加拿大软件公司在全球经济中获得竞争优势。 更广泛地说，通过扩大我们对当前分类实践的了解，加拿大软件工具开发公司和研究人员将能够更好地了解分类人员的需求和实践。此外，分级员的好处是拥有减少工作量的工具，以便他们可以专注于改进软件产品的任务，而不是被大量传入的错误报告所淹没。研究人员受益于使他们能够更好地复制先前研究结果的工具。除了错误报告分类之外，有关如何帮助创建推荐器并向软件开发人员提供建议的知识将有助于改进其他类型的软件工程推荐器系统。