Discovering how end-user programmers and their communities use public repositories: A study on Yahoo! Pipes.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Discovering how end-user programmers and their communities use public repositories: A study on Yahoo! Pipes.
Authors: Stolee, Kathryn T.1 kstolee@cse.unl.edu, Elbaum, Sebastian1 elbaum@cse.unl.edu, Sarma, Anita1 asarma@cse.unl.edu
Source: Information & Software Technology. Jul2013, Vol. 55 Issue 7, p1289-1303. 15p.
Subjects: Computer programmers, Computer users, Case studies, Software engineering, Computational complexity, Computer software, Virtual communities, Computer systems
Abstract: Abstract: Context: End-user programmers are numerous, write software that matters to an increasingly large number of users, and face software engineering challenges that are similar to their professionals counterparts. Yet, we know little about how these end-user programmers create and share artifacts in repositories as part of a community. Objective: This work aims to gain a better understanding of end-user programmer communities, the characteristics of artifacts in community repositories, and how authors evolve over time. Method: An artifact-based analysis of 32,000 mashups from the Yahoo! Pipes repository was performed. The popularity, configurability, complexity, and diversity of the artifacts were measured. Additionally, for the most prolific authors, we explore their submission trends over time. Results: Similar to other online communities, there is great deal of attrition but authors who persevere tend to improve over time, creating pipes that are more configurable, diverse, complex, and popular. We also discovered, however, that end-user programmers do not effectively reuse existing programs, submit pipes that are highly similar to others already in the repository, and in most cases do not have an awareness of the community or the richness of artifacts that exist in repositories. Conclusion: There is a need for better end-user programmer support in several stages of the software lifecycle, including development, maintenance, search, and program understanding. Without such support, the community repositories will continue to be cluttered with highly-similar artifacts and authors may not be able to take full advantage of the community resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
Copyright of Information & Software Technology is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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
FullText Text:
  Availability: 0
Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 89099639
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Discovering how end-user programmers and their communities use public repositories: A study on Yahoo! Pipes.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Stolee%2C+Kathryn+T%2E%22">Stolee, Kathryn T.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> kstolee@cse.unl.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Elbaum%2C+Sebastian%22">Elbaum, Sebastian</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> elbaum@cse.unl.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sarma%2C+Anita%22">Sarma, Anita</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> asarma@cse.unl.edu</i>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Information+%26+Software+Technology%22">Information & Software Technology</searchLink>. Jul2013, Vol. 55 Issue 7, p1289-1303. 15p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+programmers%22">Computer programmers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+users%22">Computer users</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Case+studies%22">Case studies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Software+engineering%22">Software engineering</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computational+complexity%22">Computational complexity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+software%22">Computer software</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Virtual+communities%22">Virtual communities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Computer+systems%22">Computer systems</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Abstract: Context: End-user programmers are numerous, write software that matters to an increasingly large number of users, and face software engineering challenges that are similar to their professionals counterparts. Yet, we know little about how these end-user programmers create and share artifacts in repositories as part of a community. Objective: This work aims to gain a better understanding of end-user programmer communities, the characteristics of artifacts in community repositories, and how authors evolve over time. Method: An artifact-based analysis of 32,000 mashups from the Yahoo! Pipes repository was performed. The popularity, configurability, complexity, and diversity of the artifacts were measured. Additionally, for the most prolific authors, we explore their submission trends over time. Results: Similar to other online communities, there is great deal of attrition but authors who persevere tend to improve over time, creating pipes that are more configurable, diverse, complex, and popular. We also discovered, however, that end-user programmers do not effectively reuse existing programs, submit pipes that are highly similar to others already in the repository, and in most cases do not have an awareness of the community or the richness of artifacts that exist in repositories. Conclusion: There is a need for better end-user programmer support in several stages of the software lifecycle, including development, maintenance, search, and program understanding. Without such support, the community repositories will continue to be cluttered with highly-similar artifacts and authors may not be able to take full advantage of the community resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Information & Software Technology is the property of Elsevier B.V. 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=89099639
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1016/j.infsof.2012.10.004
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 15
        StartPage: 1289
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Computer programmers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Computer users
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Case studies
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Software engineering
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Computational complexity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Computer software
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Virtual communities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Computer systems
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Discovering how end-user programmers and their communities use public repositories: A study on Yahoo! Pipes.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Stolee, Kathryn T.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Elbaum, Sebastian
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Sarma, Anita
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 07
              Text: Jul2013
              Type: published
              Y: 2013
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 09505849
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 55
            – Type: issue
              Value: 7
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Information & Software Technology
              Type: main
ResultId 1