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Visual Cues in Compiler Conversations

McCabe, Alan LU ; Söderberg, Emma LU orcid ; Church, Luke LU and Kuang, Peng LU orcid (2022) 33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group p.25-38
Abstract
When people are conversing, a key non-verbal aspect of communication is the direction in which the participants are looking, as this may convey where each person’s attention is focused. In a programming context, for instance an integrated development environment (IDE), the interaction design frequently
directs the programmer’s gaze towards specific locations on-screen. For example, syntax highlighting and error messaging may be used to draw attention towards problematic sections of code. However, error messages frequently direct the user towards the compiler’s point of discovery as opposed to the actual source of an error. Previously we have applied a conversational lens considering the interaction between the programmer and the... (More)
When people are conversing, a key non-verbal aspect of communication is the direction in which the participants are looking, as this may convey where each person’s attention is focused. In a programming context, for instance an integrated development environment (IDE), the interaction design frequently
directs the programmer’s gaze towards specific locations on-screen. For example, syntax highlighting and error messaging may be used to draw attention towards problematic sections of code. However, error messages frequently direct the user towards the compiler’s point of discovery as opposed to the actual source of an error. Previously we have applied a conversational lens considering the interaction between the programmer and the compiler as a conversation, in this work we refine that into an “attentional lens”. We consider via a prototype and small exploratory user study the difference between where a developer chooses to spend their attention, where the tooling directs it, and how the two might be aligned through the use of visualisation techniques. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group (PPIG'22)
pages
25 - 38
publisher
Psychology of Programming Interest Group
conference name
33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group
conference dates
2022-09-05 - 2022-09-09
project
How Can Eye Tracking Support Programmers?
Adaptive Developer Tools
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4e85a6d8-07a0-4f23-a335-922dd22a5f7f
alternative location
https://www.ppig.org/files/2022-PPIG-33rd--proceedings.pdf
date added to LUP
2022-11-30 11:12:16
date last changed
2023-03-31 02:59:42
@inproceedings{4e85a6d8-07a0-4f23-a335-922dd22a5f7f,
  abstract     = {{When people are conversing, a key non-verbal aspect of communication is the direction in which the participants are looking, as this may convey where each person’s attention is focused. In a programming context, for instance an integrated development environment (IDE), the interaction design frequently<br/>directs the programmer’s gaze towards specific locations on-screen. For example, syntax highlighting and error messaging may be used to draw attention towards problematic sections of code. However, error messages frequently direct the user towards the compiler’s point of discovery as opposed to the actual source of an error. Previously we have applied a conversational lens considering the interaction between the programmer and the compiler as a conversation, in this work we refine that into an “attentional lens”. We consider via a prototype and small exploratory user study the difference between where a developer chooses to spend their attention, where the tooling directs it, and how the two might be aligned through the use of visualisation techniques.}},
  author       = {{McCabe, Alan and Söderberg, Emma and Church, Luke and Kuang, Peng}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group (PPIG'22)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  pages        = {{25--38}},
  publisher    = {{Psychology of Programming Interest Group}},
  title        = {{Visual Cues in Compiler Conversations}},
  url          = {{https://www.ppig.org/files/2022-PPIG-33rd--proceedings.pdf}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}