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ESEC/FSE 2022
Mon 14 - Fri 18 November 2022 Singapore
Mon 14 Nov 2022 14:30 - 14:45 at SRC LT 52 - ESEC/FSE 20 Perspectives Chair(s): Mauro Pezze

Software engineering bots – automated tools that handle tedious tasks – are increasingly used by industrial and open source projects to improve developer productivity. Current research in this area is held back by a lack of consensus of what software engineering bots (DevBots) actually are, what characteristics distinguish them from other tools, and what benefits and challenges are associated with DevBot usage. In this paper we report on a mixed-method empirical study of DevBot usage in industrial practice. We report on findings from interviewing 21 and surveying a total of 111 developers. We identify three different personas among DevBot users (focusing on autonomy, chat interfaces, and “smartness”), each with different definitions of what a DevBot is, why developers use them, and what they struggle with.We conclude that future DevBot research should situate their work within our framework, to clearly identify what type of bot the work targets, and what advantages practitioners can expect. Further, we find that there currently is a lack of general purpose “smart” bots that go beyond simple automation tools or chat interfaces. This is problematic, as we have seen that such bots, if available, can have a transformative effect on the projects that use them.

Mon 14 Nov

Displayed time zone: Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi change

14:00 - 15:30
ESEC/FSE 20 PerspectivesESEC/FSE 2020 at SRC LT 52
Chair(s): Mauro Pezze USI Lugano; Schaffhausen Institute of Technology
14:00
15m
Talk
Understanding Type Changes in Java
ESEC/FSE 2020
Ameya Ketkar Oregon State University, USA, Nikolaos Tsantalis Concordia University, Danny Dig University of Colorado Boulder, USA
14:15
15m
Talk
Thinking Aloud about Confusing Code: A Qualitative Investigation of Program Comprehension and Atoms of Confusion
ESEC/FSE 2020
Dan Gopstein New York University, USA, Anne-Laure Fayard New York University, USA, Sven Apel Saarland University, Justin Cappos
14:30
15m
Talk
An Empirical Study of Bots in Software Development: Characteristics and Challenges from a Practitioner’s Perspective
ESEC/FSE 2020
Linda Erlenhov Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden / University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Francisco Gomes de Oliveira Neto Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden / University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Philipp Leitner Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden / University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Link to publication Media Attached
14:45
15m
Talk
Understanding the Impact of GitHub Suggested Changes on Recommendations between Developers
ESEC/FSE 2020
Chris Brown Virginia Tech, Chris Parnin North Carolina State University
15:00
15m
Talk
API Method Recommendation via Explicit Matching of Functionality Verb Phrases
ESEC/FSE 2020
Wenkai Xie Fudan University, China, Xin Peng Fudan University, Mingwei Liu Fudan University, Christoph Treude University of Melbourne, Zhenchang Xing CSIRO’s Data61; Australian National University, Xiaoxin Zhang Fudan University, Wenyun Zhao Fudan University, China
15:15
15m
Talk
On Decomposing a Deep Neural Network into Modules
ESEC/FSE 2020
Rangeet Pan IBM Research, Hridesh Rajan Iowa State University