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: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=758714
• 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.

这个研究项目的目标是改进错误报告分类过程。缺陷报告分类是一个过程，通过这个过程，提交给软件项目的“缺陷跟踪器”或问题跟踪系统（ITS）的缺陷报告被检查，以决定如何处理该报告。例如，可以检查报告以确定所描述的问题是否已经被报告，问题是否是可再现的，或者被报告为受问题影响的软件的部分是否正确。在需要修复问题的情况下，triager决定谁来修复bug。当一个分流员进行分流时，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、重复的报告、代码的活动开发区域以及开发人员工作负载。总的主题是对错误报告进行过滤和分组。尽管ITS通常提供了一种搜索bug报告字段的方法，但有证据表明，这对triager和开发人员来说都是不够的。以列表形式提供结果的现有搜索功能没有显示报表是如何相互关联的;这是做出重复或分配决策所需的信息。这项研究计划将进行一个更大的研究分流的做法和信息需求比以前做的。根据这些信息，将开发软件，帮助创建和配置分类器，使分类器更有效地完成任务。这样的解释器的例子是那些建议哪个开发人员应该修复bug以及bug报告描述的是软件的哪个部分的解释器。这些工具将使triager更加高效，从而降低软件维护成本并提高软件产品质量。降低维护成本将使加拿大软件公司能够更好地利用其现有的资源，这将鼓励增长，提高软件质量可以给加拿大软件公司在全球经济中的竞争优势。更普遍的是，通过扩大我们对当前分流做法的了解，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流者的需求和做法。此外，triager还可以通过减少工作量的工具受益，这样他们就可以专注于改进软件产品的任务，而不是被传入的bug报告数量所淹没。研究人员受益于工具，使他们能够更好地复制以前的研究结果。除了错误报告分类之外，如何帮助推荐器创建和向软件开发人员呈现推荐的知识将为其他类型的软件工程推荐系统的改进提供信息。