Speculative analysis: Exploring future development states of software

Download: PDF, slides (PDF), Quick Fix Scout implementation.

“Speculative analysis: Exploring future development states of software” by Yuriy Brun, Reid Holmes, Michael D. Ernst, and David Notkin. In FoSER: Workshop on the Future of Software Engineering Research, (Santa Fe, NM, USA), Nov. 2010, pp. 59-64.

Abstract

Most software tools and environments help developers analyze the present and past development states of their software systems. Few approaches have investigated the potential consequences of future actions the developers may perform. The commoditization of hardware, multi-core architectures, and cloud computing provide new potential for delivering apparently-instantaneous feedback to developers, informing them of the effects of changes that they may be considering to the software.

For example, modern IDEs often provide “quick fix” suggestions for resolving compilation errors. Developers must scan this list and select the option they think will resolve the problem. Instead, we propose that the IDE should speculatively perform each of the suggestions in the background and provide information that helps developers select the best option for the given context. We believe the feedback enabled by speculative operations can improve developer productivity and software quality.

Download: PDF, slides (PDF), Quick Fix Scout implementation.

BibTeX entry:

@inproceedings{BrunHEN2010:FOSER,
   author = {Yuriy Brun and Reid Holmes and Michael D. Ernst and David Notkin},
   title = {Speculative analysis: Exploring future development states of
	software},
   booktitle = {FoSER: Workshop on the Future of Software Engineering
	Research},
   pages = {59--64},
   address = {Santa Fe, NM, USA},
   month = nov,
   year = {2010}
}

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