Title :
Investigating reading techniques for object-oriented framework learning
Author :
Shull, Forrest ; Lanubile, Filippo ; Basili, Victor R.
Author_Institution :
Fraunhofer Center, Maryland Univ., College Park, MD, USA
fDate :
11/1/2000 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The empirical study described in the paper addresses software reading for construction: how application developers obtain an understanding of a software artifact for use in new system development. The study focuses on the processes that developers would engage in when learning and using object oriented frameworks. We analyzed 15 student software development projects using both qualitative and quantitative methods to gain insight into what processes occurred during framework usage. The contribution of the study is not to test predefined hypotheses but to generate well-supported hypotheses for further investigation. The main hypotheses produced are that example based techniques are well suited to use by beginning learners, while hierarchy based techniques are not, because of a larger learning curve. Other more specific hypotheses are proposed and discussed.
Keywords :
bibliographies; computer science education; object-oriented programming; reverse engineering; teaching; application developers; beginning learners; example based techniques; framework usage; hierarchy based techniques; learning curve; object oriented framework learning; object oriented frameworks; predefined hypotheses; quantitative methods; reading techniques; software artifact; software reading; student software development projects; system development; Application software; Buildings; Computer Society; Programming; Skeleton; Software engineering; Software libraries; Technical activities; Testing; User interfaces;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on