Dual Ecological Measures of Focus in Software Development.
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| Title: | Dual Ecological Measures of Focus in Software Development. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Posnett, Daryl1 dpposnett@ucdavis.edu, D'Souza, Raissa1 raissa@cse.ucdavis.edu, Devanbu, Premkumar1 ptdevanbu@ucdavis.edu, Filkov, Vladimir1 vfilkov@ucdavis.edu |
| Source: | ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering. Feb2013, p452-461. 10p. |
| Subjects: | Computer software development -- Environmental aspects, Computer software developers, Computer software quality control, Open source software, Food chains, Ecology |
| Abstract: | Work practices vary among software developers. Some are highly focused on a few artifacts; others make wideranging contributions. Similarly, some artifacts are mostly authored, or "owned", by one or few developers; others have very wide ownership. Focus and ownership are related but different phenomena, both with strong effect on software quality. Prior studies have mostly targeted ownership; the measures of ownership used have generally been based on either simple counts, information-theoretic views of ownership, or social-network views of contribution patterns. We argue for a more general conceptual view that unifies developer focus and artifact ownership. We analogize the developer-artifact contribution network to a predator-prey food web, and draw upon ideas from ecology to produce a novel, and conceptually unified view of measuring focus and ownership. These measures relate to both cross-entropy and Kullback-Liebler divergence, and simultaneously provide two normalized measures of focus from both the developer and artifact perspectives. We argue that these measures are theoretically well-founded, and yield novel predictive, conceptual, and actionable value in software projects. We find that more focused developers introduce fewer defects than defocused developers. In contrast, files that receive narrowly focused activity are more likely to contain defects than other files. [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 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Dual Ecological Measures of Focus in Software Development. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Posnett%2C+Daryl%22">Posnett, Daryl</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> dpposnett@ucdavis.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22D'Souza%2C+Raissa%22">D'Souza, Raissa</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> raissa@cse.ucdavis.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Devanbu%2C+Premkumar%22">Devanbu, Premkumar</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> ptdevanbu@ucdavis.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Filkov%2C+Vladimir%22">Filkov, Vladimir</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> vfilkov@ucdavis.edu</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>. Feb2013, p452-461. 10p. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+development+--+Environmental+aspects%22">Computer software development -- Environmental aspects</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+developers%22">Computer software developers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software+quality+control%22">Computer software quality control</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Open+source+software%22">Open source software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Food+chains%22">Food chains</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ecology%22">Ecology</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Work practices vary among software developers. Some are highly focused on a few artifacts; others make wideranging contributions. Similarly, some artifacts are mostly authored, or "owned", by one or few developers; others have very wide ownership. Focus and ownership are related but different phenomena, both with strong effect on software quality. Prior studies have mostly targeted ownership; the measures of ownership used have generally been based on either simple counts, information-theoretic views of ownership, or social-network views of contribution patterns. We argue for a more general conceptual view that unifies developer focus and artifact ownership. We analogize the developer-artifact contribution network to a predator-prey food web, and draw upon ideas from ecology to produce a novel, and conceptually unified view of measuring focus and ownership. These measures relate to both cross-entropy and Kullback-Liebler divergence, and simultaneously provide two normalized measures of focus from both the developer and artifact perspectives. We argue that these measures are theoretically well-founded, and yield novel predictive, conceptual, and actionable value in software projects. We find that more focused developers introduce fewer defects than defocused developers. In contrast, files that receive narrowly focused activity are more likely to contain defects than other files. [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.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 10 StartPage: 452 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Computer software development -- Environmental aspects Type: general – SubjectFull: Computer software developers Type: general – SubjectFull: Computer software quality control Type: general – SubjectFull: Open source software Type: general – SubjectFull: Food chains Type: general – SubjectFull: Ecology Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Dual Ecological Measures of Focus in Software Development. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Posnett, Daryl – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: D'Souza, Raissa – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Devanbu, Premkumar – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Filkov, Vladimir IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 02 Text: Feb2013 Type: published Y: 2013 Titles: – TitleFull: ICSE: International Conference on Software Engineering Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
