Understanding how software developers do their work is an important first step to improving their productivity. Previous research has generally focused either on laboratory experiments or coarsely-grained industrial case studies; however, studies that seek a finegrained understanding of industrial programmers working within a realistic context remain limited. In this work, we propose to use interaction histories — that is, finely detailed records of developers’ interactions with their IDE — as our main source of information for understanding programmer’s work habits. We develop techniques to capture, mine, and analyze interaction histories, and we present two industrial case studies to show how this approach can help to better understand industrial programmers’ work at a detailed level: we explore how the basic characteristics of software maintenance task structures can be better understood, how latent dependence between program artifacts can be detected at interaction time, and show how patterns of interaction coupling can be identified. We also examine the link between programmer interactions and some of the contextual factors of software development, such as the nature of the task being performed, the design of the software system, and the expertise of the developers. In particular, we explore how task boundaries can be automatically detected from interaction histories, how system design and developer expertise may affect interaction coupling, and whether newcomer and expert developers differ in their interaction history patterns. These findings can help us to better reason about the multidimensional nature of software development, to detect potential problems concerning task, design, expertise, and other contextual factors, and to build smarter tools that exploit the inherent patterns within programmer interactions and provide improved support for task-aware and expertise-aware software development.

Understanding how software developers do their work is an important first step to improving their productivity. Previous research has generally focused either on laboratory experiments or coarsely-grained industrial case studies; however, studies that seek a finegrained understanding of industrial programmers working within a realistic context remain limited. In this work, we propose to use interaction histories — that is, finely detailed records of developers’ interactions with their IDE — as our main source of information for understanding programmer’s work habits. We develop techniques to capture, mine, and analyze interaction histories, and we present two industrial case studies to show how this approach can help to better understand industrial programmers’ work at a detailed level: we explore how the basic characteristics of software maintenance task structures can be better understood, how latent dependence between program artifacts can be detected at interaction time, and show how patterns of interaction coupling can be identified. We also examine the link between programmer interactions and some of the contextual factors of software development, such as the nature of the task being performed, the design of the software system, and the expertise of the developers. In particular, we explore how task boundaries can be automatically detected from interaction histories, how system design and developer expertise may affect interaction coupling, and whether newcomer and expert developers differ in their interaction history patterns. These findings can help us to better reason about the multidimensional nature of software development, to detect potential problems concerning task, design, expertise, and other contextual factors, and to build smarter tools that exploit the inherent patterns within programmer interactions and provide improved support for task-aware and expertise-aware software development.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T16:34:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Haiana Maria de Carvalho Alves.pdf: 1029058 bytes, checksum: 13b2d84b984937f3915e8b02215401c8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-23 / Well-being at work has been regarded as a psychological construct brought about by positive links with work and with the organization. This investigation, which approached the impact of working context and resilience on the well-being of the Psycho-Social Attention Center (CAPS) Professionals from two Brazilian cities aimed to add findings to the area s knowledge. The CAPS are public services replacing the asylum model for the treatment of people suffering from psychic problems, backed up by and with foundations on the National Policy for Mental Health (PNSM). The theoretical conception used in this work, by its turn, approaches resilience at work as a positive psychological state related to the performance at work even in complex, wearing-out situations. Regarding working context evaluation, it was considered that it is depicted as a subjective interpretation of the professionals about the working conditions, the organization of work, and the social-professional relationship. 81 professionals from the CAPS of cities Petrolina PE and São Bernardo do Campo SP, 37 years old on average (DP = 10.45), mostly female in sex (65.4por cento) with schooling above college degree and complete post-graduation (both 29%), who declared to be married or at stable unity (39%). In this study, well-being at work was considered as the criterion variable, and resilience at work and working conditions, as predictors. A quiz was applied to collect the participants social-demographic data and three valid Brazilian scales, being: Well-being-at-work Inventory (IBET-13), Resilience-at-Work Scale (ERT), and Work Context Evaluation Scale (EACT). Statistical, exploratory, and descriptive analysis were carried out, as well as regression analysis, and variance analyses (ANOVA) to describe participants, variables, and test the model. The results partly backed up the prediction model, for the social-professional factor confirmed itself as significant predictor for Well-Being at Work, when there was no significant prediction from the other variables (Working Conditions, Working Organization, and Resilience at Work). These data can reveal that good social-professional relationships tend to increase the satisfaction level and affective organizational commitment with the institution, as well as the increase in the engagement level of these professionals with their work. / Este estudo teve como intuito investigar o impacto do contexto de trabalho e da resiliência sobre o bem-estar no trabalho em profissionais dos Centros de Atenção Psicossocial (CAPS). Os CAPS são serviços públicos substitutivos ao modelo asilar para tratamento de pessoas em sofrimento psíquico, preconizado e fundamentado na Política Nacional de Saúde Mental (PNSM). Para medir o contexto de trabalho utilizou-se a Escala de Avaliação do Contexto de Trabalho (EACT) que investiga as condições de trabalho, a organização do trabalho e as relações sócio profissionais. Já o instrumento utilizado para medir a capacidade dos trabalhadores em manter o nível de desempenho no trabalho mesmo em situações complexas e desgastantes foi a Escala de Avaliação de Resiliência no Trabalho (EART). Por último, investigou-se o nível de bem-estar do público pesquisado através do Inventário de Bem- Estar no Trabalho (IBET-13). O bem-estar no trabalho tem sido considerado como um construto psicológico resultado de vínculos positivos com o trabalho e com a organização. Participaram 81 profissionais dos CAPS das cidades de Petrolina PE e São Bernardo do Campo SP, com idade média de 37 anos (DP= 10,45), em sua maioria do sexo feminino (65,4%), com níveis de escolaridade acima do ensino superior e pós-graduação completa (ambos com 29%), que se declararam casados ou em união estável (39%). Neste estudo, considerou-se bem-estar no trabalho como variável critério e resiliência no trabalho e contexto de trabalho como preditores. Foram realizadas análises estatísticas exploratórias e descritivas, análises de regressão e análises de variância (ANOVA) para descrever participantes, variáveis e testar o modelo. Os resultados apoiaram parcialmente o modelo de predição, pois apenas o fator relações sócio profissionais se confirmou como preditor significativo de Bem-estar no Trabalho, e não houve predição significativa com as demais variáveis (Condições de Trabalho, Organização do Trabalho e Resiliência no Trabalho). Estes dados podem revelar que boas relações sócio profissionais tendem a aumentar o nível de satisfação e comprometimento organizacional afetivo com a instituição, bem como o aumento do nível de envolvimento desses profissionais com seu trabalho.