DocumentCode :
2674152
Title :
A human study of fault localization accuracy
Author :
Fry, Zachary P. ; Weimer, Westley
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
fYear :
2010
fDate :
12-18 Sept. 2010
Firstpage :
1
Lastpage :
10
Abstract :
Localizing and repairing defects are critical software engineering activities. Not all programs and not all bugs are equally easy to debug, however. We present formal models, backed by a human study involving 65 participants (from both academia and industry) and 1830 total judgments, relating various software- and defect-related features to human accuracy at locating errors. Our study involves example code from Java textbooks, helping us to control for both readability and complexity. We find that certain types of defects are much harder for humans to locate accurately. For example, humans are over five times more accurate at locating “extra statements” than “missing statements” based on experimental observation. We also find that, independent of the type of defect involved, certain code contexts are harder to debug than others. For example, humans are over three times more accurate at finding defects in code that provides an array abstraction than in code that provides a tree abstraction. We identify and analyze code features that are predictive of human fault localization accuracy. Finally, we present a formal model of debugging accuracy based on those source code features that have a statistically significant correlation with human performance.
Keywords :
program debugging; social aspects of automation; software fault tolerance; array abstraction; critical software engineering activity; debugging accuracy; defect related features; fault localization accuracy; formal model; repairing software defect; software complexity; software readability; tree abstraction; Accuracy; Algorithm design and analysis; Debugging; Humans; Java; Object oriented modeling; Poles and towers;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Software Maintenance (ICSM), 2010 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Timisoara
ISSN :
1063-6773
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-8630-4
Electronic_ISBN :
1063-6773
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/ICSM.2010.5609691
Filename :
5609691
Link To Document :
بازگشت