Websites are frequently used by programmers to support the development process. This paper investigates programmer-Web interactions when coding, and combines observations of behaviour with assessments of the resulting source code. We report on an online observational study with ten undergraduate student programmers as they engaged in programming tasks of varying complexity. Screens were recorded of participants’ activities, and each participated in an interview. Videos and interviews were thematically analysed. Novice programmers employed various strategies for seeking and utilising online knowledge. The resulting source code was examined to determine the extent to which it met requirements and whether it contained errors. The source code analysis revealed that coding with the websites involved more coding time and effort, but increased the possibility of producing correct code. However, coding with websites also introduced instances of either incorrect or non-executable source code.

Websites are frequently used to support the development process. This paper investigates how websites are used when writing code and programmers’ perceptions of the potential impact of this on their behaviour and the quality of the resulting software. We interviewed 18 programmers (13 students enrolled in undergraduate computer science courses, and 5 experienced professionals), and analysed the data thematically. The findings were used to develop a survey, which was distributed to 276 programmers (251 students, 25 experienced professionals). The results indicate that use of websites, especially Stack Overflow, is viewed as an essential part of programming by both students completing coursework and professionals developing code in industry. We also found that developers have experience of encountering a diverse set of problematic code snippets online, that copying code from websites without checking its quality or understanding how it worked is common, and that using online resources in this way had a potentially counter-productive effect on learning. Based on these findings, we make a number of recommendations, including better consideration of online code reuse in taught programmes, co-development and code-reuse practices in professional settings, and software licensing training for professional developers. Editor’s note: Open Science material was validated by the Journal of Systems and Software Open Science Board.