Source code comprehension affects software development — especially its maintenance — where code reading is one of the most time-consuming activities. A programming language, together with the programming paradigm it supports, is a strong factor that profoundly impacts how programmers comprehend code. We conducted a human-subject controlled experiment to evaluate comprehension of code written using the Data Context Interaction (DCI) paradigm relative to code written with commonly used Object-Oriented (OO) programming. We used a new research-level language called Trygve which implements DCI concepts, and Java, a pervasive OO language in the industry. DCI revisits lost roots of the OO paradigm to address problems that are inherent to Java and most other contemporary OO languages. We observed correctness, time consumption, and locality of reference during reading comprehension tasks. We present a method which relies on the Eigenvector Centrality metric from Social Network Analysis to study the locality of reference in programmers by inspecting their sequencing of reading language element declarations and their permanence time in the code. Results indicate that DCI code in Trygve supports more comprehensible code regarding correctness and improves the locality of reference, reducing context switching during the software discovery process. Regarding reading time consumption, we found no statistically significant differences between both approaches.

Groups of people working in concert perform most commercial, industrial or in-house software development. These groups are often quite diverse. This panel brings together object-oriented consultants and developers as well as practitioners and researchers interested in human factors and user-centered design, project management and technical writing. The panel will address the question, "To successfully complete today's projects, does object-oriented development as practiced today do an adequate job of supporting ALL of the participants who must collaborate?"

Most software development projects don't practice what is usually considered "proper" software engineering practices: well-documented, traceable requirements do not exist, formal inspections are non-existent, analysis and design inodels are incomplete or not even done at all, and so forth. We know that many of these projects fail, and it is easy to blame the failure of the project on the lack of good software engineering practices ("If we only had well-documented requirements, a complete and thorough test plan, and formal schedules then we would have been successful!")But many projects that do not practice what many consider to be good software engineering practices succeed, and succeed famously. Examples include the startup introducing a revolutionary new product, the skunkworks project of an established firm that succeeds in changing the status quo, and selecting a mission critical application as the first OO application of a group just beginning to make the transition to the new technology.Gaining a deeper understanding of success and failure on software projects is absolutely essential for the continued maturation of our industry, and object technology in particular.

Patterns and frameworks are two approaches to the development of both new and evolving software systems. An implicit hypothesis is that are reduced by leveraging knowledge previously collected, analyzed, organized, and packaged. Discovery (or getting started costs) include both the costs of understanding the problem to be solved and the cost of understanding the tools, methods, existing software, etc. For large, multi-year development projects in industries such as defense or telecommunications, discovery costs can dominate the overall cost (and risk) of software development.This panel will share its experience and perspectives with the audience with a discussion initiated by the following questions:• Have patterns and frameworks really delivered on their claims for reducing discovery costs? Can current best-practices be characterized as meaningful or marginal (what are the measures)?• What are the discovery cost factors where frameworks and patterns appear to deliver the biggest bang for the buck?• While mature pattern languages and frameworks may reduce the learning curve, they do not, eliminate it. How much of a learning curve is required to develop a sufficient shared context with the authors of a set of patterns or a framework?

Anthropology is the study of civilization, particularly its societies, customs, structure, and evolution. Our premise is that there are cultureal "chasms" to be crossed to ensure the success of the technological beachhead established by innovators and early adopters of the OO paradigm. Our panelists will address the following questions:•What anthropological cultural factors have to be "matured" (and how?) to foster the success of the OO paradigm?•What mechanisms are required to facilitate communications between cultures of differing maturity?•What cultural chasms must be crossed to develop a successful organization/culture within the framework supported by the object-oriented paradigm (or more perrversely, is there anything "special" about the OO paradigm)?This panel will interest pracitioners as a forum to share and debate experiences related to our current-day software culture metamorphosis.

Article Free Access Share on Patterns: cult to culture? Authors: Steven Fraser BNR/Nortel (Moderator) BNR/Nortel (Moderator)View Profile , Grady Booch Rational RationalView Profile , Frank Buschmann Siemens SiemensView Profile , Jim Coplien AT&T AT&TView Profile , Norm Kerth Elite Systems Elite SystemsView Profile , Ivar Jacobson Objectory ObjectoryView Profile , Mary Beth Rosson Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityView Profile Authors Info & Claims OOPSLA '95: Proceedings of the tenth annual conference on Object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applicationsOctober 1995 Pages 231–234https://doi.org/10.1145/217838.217863Online:17 October 1995Publication History 3citation600DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations3Total Downloads600Last 12 Months19Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Projects using Object Oriented typically fall into one of two categories: either they are run with traditional project management techniques, or they are run by technology experts who don't use any project management techniques. This panel will attempt to give out some hints as to how to be more successful managing OO projects.Questions to be addressed include:• How is Object Oriented Project Management different? Is a paradigm shift required for project management?• What aspects of Object Oriented project management should be stressed? What are some tips, tricks or gotchas experienced by the panel members?• Does a project manager need to be more technical to lead an Object Oriented project? Should he/she have had previous experience with Object Oriented development?• What are some alternate organizational structures which would better support Object Oriented projects?• What is the nature of an Object Oriented life cycle and how is it different?• Is there a difference in techniques between different languages or between different domainsAudience members with relevant experience will be invited to sit on the panel in two guest seats.

article Free Access Share on How do teams shape objects?—How do objects shape teams? Authors: Steven Fraser Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, CanadaView Profile , Kent Beck FirstClass Software FirstClass SoftwareView Profile , Grady Booch Rational Booch Rational BoochView Profile , Derek Coleman Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto California Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto CaliforniaView Profile , Jim Coplien AT&T Bell Laboratories AT&T Bell LaboratoriesView Profile , Richard Helm DMR Group., 1200 Mcill College Ave., Montreal. QC H3B 4G7 Canada DMR Group., 1200 Mcill College Ave., Montreal. QC H3B 4G7 CanadaView Profile , Kenny Rubin ParcPlace Systems ParcPlace SystemsView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 29Issue 10Oct. 1994 pp 468–473https://doi.org/10.1145/191081.191152Online:01 October 1994Publication History 2citation395DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations2Total Downloads395Last 12 Months5Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Article Free Access Share on A discussion of On the Purpose of Object-Oriented Analysis Authors: Dave Thomas Object Technology International Object Technology InternationalView Profile , Adele Goldberg ParcPlace Systems ParcPlace SystemsView Profile , James Coplien Bell Labs Bell LabsView Profile , Peter Coad Apple, Inc. Apple, Inc.View Profile , Geir Magne Høydalsvik Univ. of Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway Univ. of Trondheim, Trondheim, NorwayView Profile Authors Info & Claims OOPSLA '93: Proceedings of the eighth annual conference on Object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applicationsOctober 1993Pages 256–258https://doi.org/10.1145/165854.165899Published:01 October 1993Publication History 1citation664DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations1Total Downloads664Last 12 Months15Last 6 weeks2 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF