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An examination of software engineering work practices

Authors:

Timothy Lethbridge,

Nicolas AnquetilAuthors Info & Claims

CASCON '97: Proceedings of the 1997 conference of the Centre for Advanced Studies on Collaborative research

Page 21

Published: 10 November 1997 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents work practice data of the daily activities of software engineers. Four separate studies are presented; one looking longitudinally at an individual SE; two looking at a software engineering group; and one looking at company-wide tool usage statistics. We also discuss the advantages in considering work practices in designing tools for software engineers, and include some requirements for a tool we have developed as a result of our studies.

References

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{1} Anderson, J., Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, WH Freeman, 1995.

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{2} Blomberg, J., Suchman, L., & Trigg, R., Reflections on a Work-oriented Design Project. Human Computer Interaction (11), pp. 237-265, 1996.

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{3} Beyer, H., & Holtzblatt, K., Apprenticing with the customer. CACM (38), pp. 45-52, 1995.

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{4} Brooks, R., Towards a Theory of the Comprehension of Computer Programs, Int. J. of Man-Machine Studies (18), pp. 543-554, 1983.

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{5} Holt, R., Software Bookshelf: Overview And Construction, www.turing.toronto.edu/ ~holt/papers/bsbuild.html

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{6} Lethbridge, T., & Anquetil, N., Architecture of a source code exploration tool: A software engineering case study. SITE, Technical Report.

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{7} Lethbridge, T. and Singer J., Understanding Software Maintenance Tools: Some Empirical Research, Workshop on Empirical Studies of Software Maintenance (WESS 97), Bari Italy, October, 1997.

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{8} Lethbridge, T. and Singer, J, Strategies for Studying Maintenance", Workshop on Empirical Studies of Software Maintenance, Monterey, November 1996.

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{9} Littman, D., Pinto, J., Letovsky, S., & Soloway, E., Mental Models and Software Maintenance, Empirical Studies of Programmers, pp. 80-98, 1986.

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{10} Mayhew, D., Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design, Prentice Hall, 1991.

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{11} Müller, H., Mehmet, O., Tilley, S., and Uhl, J., A Reverse Engineering Approach to Subsystem Identification, Software Maintenance and Practice, Vol 5, 181-204, 1993.

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{12} Pennington, N., Stimulus Structures and Mental Representations in expert comprehension of computer programs. Cognitive Psychology (19), pp. 295-341, 1987.

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{13} Singer, J. and Lethbridge, T, Methods for Studying Maintenance Activities, Workshop on Empirical Studies of Software Maintenance, Monterey, November 1996.

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{14} Singer, J., and Lethbridge, T. (in preparation). Just-in-Time Comprehension: A New Model of Program Understanding.

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{15} Singer, J, Lethbridge, T., and Vinson, N. Work Practices as an Alternative Method for Tool Design in Software Engineering, CHI '98.

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{16} Storey, M., Fracchia, F., & Müüller, H., Cognitive Elements to support the construction of a mental model during software visualization. Proc 5th Workshop on Program Comprehension, Dearborn, MI, pp. 17-28, May, 1997.

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{17} Take5 Corporation home page, http://www.takefive.com/index.htm

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{18} Vicente, K and Pejtersen, A. Cognitive Work Analysis, in press

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{19} von Mayrhauser, A., & Vans, A., From Program Comprehension to Tool Requirements for an Industrial Environment, In: Proc. 2nd Workshop on Program Comprehension, Capri, Italy, pp. 78-86, July 1993.

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{20} von Mayrhauser, A., & Vans, A., From Code Understanding Needs to Reverse Engineering Tool Capabilities, Proc. 6th Int. Wkshp on Computer-Aided Software Engineering, Singapore, pp. 230-239, July 1993.

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Cited By

Pilzer JRosenast RMeyer AHuang EFritz TBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Supporting Software Developers' Focused Work on Window-Based DesktopsProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376285(1-13)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3313831.3376285
Bai GClee BShrestha NChapman CWright CStolee KGuéhéneuc YKhomh FSarro F(2019)Exploring tools and strategies used during regular expression composition tasksProceedings of the 27th International Conference on Program Comprehension10.1109/ICPC.2019.00039(197-208)Online publication date: 25-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICPC.2019.00039
Baltes SDiehl SLeavens GGarcia APăsăreanu C(2018)Towards a theory of software development expertiseProceedings of the 2018 26th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering10.1145/3236024.3236061(187-200)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3236024.3236061
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Index Terms

An examination of software engineering work practices
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Management of computing and information systems
      1. Project and people management
        Systems development
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Designing software
      1. Software implementation planning
        Software design techniques
    2. Software development process management
      1. Software development methods
  2. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
      1. Integrated and visual development environments

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cover image DL Hosted proceedings

CASCON '97: Proceedings of the 1997 conference of the Centre for Advanced Studies on Collaborative research

November 1997

542 pages

Editor:
J. Howard Johnson

Sponsors

IBM Canada: IBM Canada
NRC: National Research Council - Canada

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IBM Press

Publication History

Published: 10 November 1997

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Overall Acceptance Rate 24 of 90 submissions, 27%

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Cited By

Pilzer JRosenast RMeyer AHuang EFritz TBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Supporting Software Developers' Focused Work on Window-Based DesktopsProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376285(1-13)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3313831.3376285
Bai GClee BShrestha NChapman CWright CStolee KGuéhéneuc YKhomh FSarro F(2019)Exploring tools and strategies used during regular expression composition tasksProceedings of the 27th International Conference on Program Comprehension10.1109/ICPC.2019.00039(197-208)Online publication date: 25-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ICPC.2019.00039
Baltes SDiehl SLeavens GGarcia APăsăreanu C(2018)Towards a theory of software development expertiseProceedings of the 2018 26th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering10.1145/3236024.3236061(187-200)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3236024.3236061
Rosenblatt LCarrington PHara KBigham J(2018)Vocal Programming for People with Upper-Body Motor ImpairmentsProceedings of the 15th International Web for All Conference10.1145/3192714.3192821(1-10)Online publication date: 23-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3192714.3192821
Armaly ARodeghero PMcMillan C(2018)A Comparison of Program Comprehension Strategies by Blind and Sighted ProgrammersIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2017.272954844:8(712-724)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TSE.2017.2729548
(2017)Design and evaluation of a multi-recommendation system for local code searchJournal of Visual Languages and Computing10.1016/j.jvlc.2016.07.00239:C(1-9)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jvlc.2016.07.002
Romano SFucci DScanniello GTurhan BJuristo NBeecham SKitchenham BMacDonell S(2016)Results from an Ethnographically-informed Study in the Context of Test Driven DevelopmentProceedings of the 20th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering10.1145/2915970.2915996(1-10)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2915970.2915996
Martin DCordy J(2016)On the maintenance complexity of makefilesProceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Emerging Trends in Software Metrics10.1145/2897695.2897703(50-56)Online publication date: 14-May-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2897695.2897703
Armaly AMcMillan CDillon LVisser WWilliams L(2016)An empirical study of blindness and program comprehensionProceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering Companion10.1145/2889160.2891041(683-685)Online publication date: 14-May-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2889160.2891041
Martie Lvan der Hoek APenta MPinzger MRobbes R(2015)SamenessProceedings of the 12th Working Conference on Mining Software Repositories10.5555/2820518.2820530(76-87)Online publication date: 16-May-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2820518.2820530
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