ShellFusion: answer generation for shell programming tasks via knowledge fusion.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: ShellFusion: answer generation for shell programming tasks via knowledge fusion.
Authors: Zhang, Neng1 zhangn279@mail.sysu.edu.cn, Liu, Chao2 liu.chao@cqu.edu.cn, Xia, Xin3 xin.xia@acm.org, Treude, Christoph4 christoph.treude@unimelb.edu.au, Zou, Ying5 ying.zou@queensu.ca, Lo, David6 davidlo@smu.edu.sg, Zheng, Zibin1 zhzibin@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Source: ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering. 2022, p1970-1981. 12p.
Subjects: Computer network management, UNIX device drivers (Computer programs), Natural language processing, Artificial intelligence, QUERY (Information retrieval system)
Abstract: Shell commands are widely used for accomplishing tasks, such as network management and file manipulation, in Unix and Linux platforms. There are a large number of shell commands available. For example, 50,000+ commands are documented in the Ubuntu Manual Pages (MPs). Quite often, programmers feel frustrated when searching and orchestrating appropriate shell commands to accomplish specific tasks. To address the challenge, the shell programming community calls for easy-to-use tutorials for shell commands. However, existing tutorials (e.g., TLDR) only cover a limited number of frequently used commands for shell beginners and provide limited support for users to search for commands by a task. We propose an approach, i.e., ShellFusion, to automatically generate comprehensive answers (including relevant shell commands, scripts, and explanations) for shell programming tasks. Our approach integrates knowledge mined from Q&A posts in Stack Exchange, Ubuntu MPs, and TLDR tutorials. For a query that describes a shell programming task, ShellFusion recommends a list of relevant shell commands. Specifically ShellFusion retrieves the top-n Q&A posts with questions similar to the query and detects shell commands with options (e.g., 1s -t) from the accepted answers of the retrieved posts. Next, ShellFusion filters out irrelevant commands with descriptions in MP and TLDR that share little semantics with the query, and further ranks the candidate commands based on their similarities with the query and the retrieved posts. To help users understand how to achieve the task using a recommended command, ShellFusion generates a comprehensive answer for each command by synthesizing knowledge from Q&A posts, MPs, and TLDR. Our evaluation of 434 shell programming tasks shows that ShellFusion significantly outperforms Magnum (the state-of-the-art natural language-to-Bash command approach) by at least 179.6% in terms of MRR@K and MAP@K. A user study conducted with 20 shell programmers further shows that ShellFusion can help users address programming tasks more efficiently and accurately compared with Magnum and DeepAns (a recent answer recommendation baseline). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering is the property of Association for Computing Machinery and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
Text:
  Availability: 1
Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 185195783
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Conference
PubTypeId: conference
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: ShellFusion: answer generation for shell programming tasks via knowledge fusion.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhang%2C+Neng%22">Zhang, Neng</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> zhangn279@mail.sysu.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Liu%2C+Chao%22">Liu, Chao</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><i> liu.chao@cqu.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Xia%2C+Xin%22">Xia, Xin</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo><i> xin.xia@acm.org</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Treude%2C+Christoph%22">Treude, Christoph</searchLink><relatesTo>4</relatesTo><i> christoph.treude@unimelb.edu.au</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zou%2C+Ying%22">Zou, Ying</searchLink><relatesTo>5</relatesTo><i> ying.zou@queensu.ca</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lo%2C+David%22">Lo, David</searchLink><relatesTo>6</relatesTo><i> davidlo@smu.edu.sg</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zheng%2C+Zibin%22">Zheng, Zibin</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> zhzibin@mail.sysu.edu.cn</i>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22ICSE%3A+International+Conference+on+Software+Engineering%22">ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering</searchLink>. 2022, p1970-1981. 12p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+network+management%22">Computer network management</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22UNIX+device+drivers+%28Computer+programs%29%22">UNIX device drivers (Computer programs)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Natural+language+processing%22">Natural language processing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Artificial+intelligence%22">Artificial intelligence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22QUERY+%28Information+retrieval+system%29%22">QUERY (Information retrieval system)</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Shell commands are widely used for accomplishing tasks, such as network management and file manipulation, in Unix and Linux platforms. There are a large number of shell commands available. For example, 50,000+ commands are documented in the Ubuntu Manual Pages (MPs). Quite often, programmers feel frustrated when searching and orchestrating appropriate shell commands to accomplish specific tasks. To address the challenge, the shell programming community calls for easy-to-use tutorials for shell commands. However, existing tutorials (e.g., TLDR) only cover a limited number of frequently used commands for shell beginners and provide limited support for users to search for commands by a task. We propose an approach, i.e., ShellFusion, to automatically generate comprehensive answers (including relevant shell commands, scripts, and explanations) for shell programming tasks. Our approach integrates knowledge mined from Q&A posts in Stack Exchange, Ubuntu MPs, and TLDR tutorials. For a query that describes a shell programming task, ShellFusion recommends a list of relevant shell commands. Specifically ShellFusion retrieves the top-n Q&A posts with questions similar to the query and detects shell commands with options (e.g., 1s -t) from the accepted answers of the retrieved posts. Next, ShellFusion filters out irrelevant commands with descriptions in MP and TLDR that share little semantics with the query, and further ranks the candidate commands based on their similarities with the query and the retrieved posts. To help users understand how to achieve the task using a recommended command, ShellFusion generates a comprehensive answer for each command by synthesizing knowledge from Q&A posts, MPs, and TLDR. Our evaluation of 434 shell programming tasks shows that ShellFusion significantly outperforms Magnum (the state-of-the-art natural language-to-Bash command approach) by at least 179.6% in terms of MRR@K and MAP@K. A user study conducted with 20 shell programmers further shows that ShellFusion can help users address programming tasks more efficiently and accurately compared with Magnum and DeepAns (a recent answer recommendation baseline). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering is the property of Association for Computing Machinery and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=egs&AN=185195783
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1145/3510003.3510131
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 12
        StartPage: 1970
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Computer network management
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: UNIX device drivers (Computer programs)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Natural language processing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Artificial intelligence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: QUERY (Information retrieval system)
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: ShellFusion: answer generation for shell programming tasks via knowledge fusion.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Zhang, Neng
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Liu, Chao
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Xia, Xin
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Treude, Christoph
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Zou, Ying
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Lo, David
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Zheng, Zibin
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 05
              Text: 2022
              Type: published
              Y: 2022
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering
              Type: main
ResultId 1