![PARTICIPANTS15 participants (one female only) Age (range 31 to 56) [39 avg.]Professional developers working in Washington Puget Sound area.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chi-101216194653-phpapp02/85/Evaluating-Cues-for-Resuming-Interrupted-Programming-TAsks-18-320.jpg)
![CONTENT TIMELINESlower, but restorative.Users worked backwards in their task state with this view.Seemed to support restoring episodic and prospective memory.“The history of the [timeline] and diffs are very useful and did the most help in restarting”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/chi-101216194653-phpapp02/85/Evaluating-Cues-for-Resuming-Interrupted-Programming-TAsks-27-320.jpg)
Evaluating Cues for Resuming Interrupted Programming TAsks
- 1. Evaluating Cues for Resuming Interrupted Programming TasksChris Parnin, Georgia Institute of TechnologyRobert DeLine, Microsoft Research
- 2. INTERRUPTIONSInterruptions force rapid suspension of task memory -- which, for programmers, is large and complex.But for programmers, task memory is so large, even a lunch break can be a problem.
- 3. EXAMPLEA programmer makes several changes, one of which contains an error.Goes to lunchRunning code crashes, but forgot “what was changed”?Spends 15 minutes trying to remember.
- 4. TASKSManagers100s tasks with few documents.Programmers Few tasks with 100s documents.
- 5. DOCUMENTSTypical program with 56 sub-projects.Note: sub-folders not expanded.
- 6. RESEARCH GOALWhat do programmers forget and how can we remind them?
- 7. RESEARCH APPROACH1) Survey programmers to identify current strategies and new approaches.2) Experimentally evaluate current strategies, and compare with current research approaches.
- 8. SURVEY15 questions composed of both fixed and open-responses.371 developers from Microsoft and 42 from various companies responded.
- 10. S.H.
- 11. RESUMPTION STRATEGIESReturn to last method modified, and navigate to related code to jog your memory. Use markers or notes.View source code difference.Run program and examine its output or UI.
- 12. RESUMPTION STRATEGIESReturn to last method modified, and navigate to related code to jog your memory. Use markers or notes.View source code difference.Run program and examine its output or UI.cue-seeking, searching for reminders while reactivating mental context.10-15 minutes before first edit(based on recorded sessions)
- 13. HELP!Programmers wanted: Better help for viewing work history: (recent code changes, documents, summaries)Didn’t want as much: Instant replays, task planning tools, smart reminders.
- 14. WORK HISTORYvar first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);Record document switches, actions.Record state of document after each action.var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
- 15. CURRENT APPROACHvar first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"Uses semantic cues.www.eclipse.org/mylyn
- 16. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHvar first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);var first = line.Points.First();var last = line.Points.Last();returnnew Point((first.X + last.X) / 2, (first.Y + last.Y) / 2);SAVEUse both episodic and semantic cues.xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"var last = line.Points.Last();
- 17. EXPERIMENTDo semantic and episodic-based cues from work history help resumption?
- 18. PARTICIPANTS15 participants (one female only) Age (range 31 to 56) [39 avg.]Professional developers working in Washington Puget Sound area.
- 19. Make block fall all the way down with space key.Make ghosts stop moving when eating power pellet. Make monster reappear if missed shot.TASKS
- 20. METHODParticipant in 2 hour session, beginning with training on tools.Programmers use assigned condition to help resume task(could take notes).Programmers interrupted shortly after making edit,moving on to next task.
- 21. RESULTSNear 2-to-1 task completion rate (either cues) over notes. (chi, p < 0.1)7,7,4Near 2-to-1 resumption speed (DOI) over notes. (no significance)2.5, 3.5, 4.5 minutes Subjective ratings highest for timeline, notes, then DOI. (t-test, p <0.001)Next slide
- 22. RATINGSParticipants completing no tasks, rated notes highest:Experienced programmers create better history.
- 23. “There is something wrong, I don’t know what I missed”this.keyUp = keyUpHandler;FORGETTING
- 24. 5 minutes pass…but too little time to finish.“I remember finding that code, I just can’t remember where it is!”FORGETTING
- 25. NOTESNotes restore goals well, but context poorly.
- 26. DOI TREEVIEWFast, but incomplete.Seemed to support familiarity memory, clicking on locations without remembering what’s there.“I wouldn’t remember this if I had to come back in 5 minutes”
- 27. CONTENT TIMELINESlower, but restorative.Users worked backwards in their task state with this view.Seemed to support restoring episodic and prospective memory.“The history of the [timeline] and diffs are very useful and did the most help in restarting”
- 28. COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK“I wouldn’t have to write down the location, just what needs to be done”DOI Treeview should explain how I used item:Edit, Find, Navigation, Debug Step-throughContent Timeline should include:filtering, pinning, annotation, and sharing.
- 29. FUTUREBEYONDExcel/Word SummariesSharing Work ExperiencesEpisodic Buffer MonitorPen and multitouch-based interactions and annotationsTemporal and semantic zoomSubvocalization (inner voice)
- 30. QUESTIONSEvaluating Cues for Resuming Interrupted Programming TasksChris Parnin, Robert DeLine
Editor's Notes
- #2: Fix size
- #3: Impact? 15 minutes.
- #4: Impact? 15 minutes.
- #6: In another study we did on programmers, we found that programmers would typically work each day with between 50-80 methods,which are named sections of a code document. 60% of switches between methods, would require switching to a new document.This creates a frequent pattern of switching and searching: the perfect recipe for disorientation.
- #7: Impact? 15 minutes.
- #8: Impact? 15 minutes.
- #9: Impact? 15 minutes.
- #11: Here is what one programmer did to cope. S.H.
- #16: Render recent history as degree-of-interest.
- #17: Render recent history as episodes (i.e. summaries of content).
- #26: Writing notes require recreating context: Paper notes referred to code symbols (65% of lines)