Many IDEs support an autocomplete feature, which may increase developer productivity by reducing typing requirements and by providing convenient access to relevant information. However, to date, there has been no evaluation of the actual benefit of autocomplete to programmers. We conducted a between-subjects experiment (N=32) using an eye tracker to evaluate the costs and benefits of IDE-based autocomplete features to programmers who use an unfamiliar API. Participants who used autocomplete spent significantly less time reading documentation and got significantly higher scores on our post-study API knowledge test, indicating that it helped them learn more about the API. However, autocomplete did not significantly reduce the number of keystrokes required to finish tasks. We conclude that the primary benefit of autocomplete is in providing information, not in reducing time spent typing.
Wed 17 JulDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
11:00 - 12:30 | Human Aspects 1Research Papers / Industry Papers at Mandacaru Chair(s): Christoph Treude Singapore Management University | ||
11:00 18mTalk | "The Law Doesn’t Work Like a Computer": Exploring Software Licensing Issues Faced by Legal Practitioners Research Papers Nathan Wintersgill William & Mary, Trevor Stalnaker William & Mary, Laura A. Heymann William & Mary, Oscar Chaparro William & Mary, Denys Poshyvanyk William & Mary | ||
11:18 18mTalk | AI-assisted Code Authoring at Scale: Fine-tuning, deploying, and mixed methods evaluation Research Papers Vijayaraghavan Murali Meta Platforms Inc., Chandra Sekhar Maddila Meta Platforms, Inc., Imad Ahmad Meta Platforms, Inc., Michael Bolin Meta Platforms, Inc., Daniel Cheng Meta Platforms Inc., Negar Ghorbani Meta Platforms Inc., Renuka Fernandez Meta Platforms, Inc., Nachiappan Nagappan Meta Platforms, Inc., Peter C Rigby Meta / Concordia University | ||
11:36 18mTalk | An Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of Autocomplete in IDEs Research Papers Shaokang Jiang University of California, San Diego, Michael Coblenz University of California, San Diego Pre-print | ||
11:54 18mTalk | Shadows in the Interface: A Comprehensive Study on Dark Patterns Research Papers Liming Nie Nanyang Technological University, Yangyang Zhao Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Chenglin Li Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Xuqiong Luo Changsha University of Science and Technology, Yang Liu Nanyang Technological University | ||
12:12 9mTalk | Paths to Testing: Why Women Enter and Remain in Software Testing? Industry Papers Kleice Silva CESAR School, Ann Barcomb Department of Electrical and Software Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Ronnie de Souza Santos University of Calgary |