Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics

Appearing in the 20th IEEE International Conference
on Program Comprehension (http://icpc12.sosy-lab.org/)

Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
Christopher S. Corley, Elizabeth A. Kammer, and Nicholas A. Kraft
(University of Alabama, USA)

Abstract
Exploring linguistic topics in source code is a program comprehension activity that shows promise in helping a developer to become familiar with an unfamiliar software system. Examining ownership in source code can reveal complementary information, such as who to contact with questions regarding a source code entity, but the relationship between linguistic topics and ownership is an unexplored area. In this paper we combine software repository mining and topic modeling to measure the ownership of linguistic topics in source code. We conduct an exploratory study of the relationship between linguistic topics and ownership in source code using 10 open source Java systems. We find that classes that belong to the same linguistic topic tend to have similar ownership characteristics, which suggests that conceptually related classes often share the same owner(s). We also find that similar topics tend to share the same ownership characteristics, which suggests that the same developers own related topics.

Transcript

1. C.S. Corley, E. A. Kammer, and N. A. Kraft Department of Computer Science, The University of Alabama ICPC’12 Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
2. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
3. top· ic /ˈtɒpɪk/ noun A matter dealt with in a text, discourse, or conversation; a subject
4. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
5. Feature location Aspect mining Traceability links Topics
6. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
7. own· er· ship   /ˈoʊnərˌʃɪp/ noun The act, state, or right of possessing something
11. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
12. Expertise Defect prediction Ownership
13. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
14. Feature location Aspect mining Traceability links Topics
15. Expertise Defect prediction Ownership
16. Expertise of Topics Defect prediction of Topics Ownership of Topics
17. Do classes that belong to the same linguistic topic have similar ownership characteristics?
18. Do similar linguistic topics have similar ownership characteristics?
19. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
20. Topic Modeling
22. System topic
23. System topic Supertopics
24. System topic Supertopics Subtopics
25. System topic Supertopics Subtopics Document Document Document Document Document Document Documents
26. Main development branch (trunk/) Revision: HEAD Document Extraction
27. Document Extraction Comments, Identifiers, Literals Split, Normalize, Filter
28. Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics
29. Main development branch (trunk/) Revisions: 1 to HEAD Repository Mining
31. Ownership Profiles
32. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 >
33. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 >
34. Case study
35. 10 Java systems using Subversion
36. Do classes that belong to the same linguistic topic have similar ownership characteristics?
37. Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Documents Subtopics Supertopics System topic
38. 0.0 0.5 1.0
39. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
40. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0 Ant ArgoUML CAROL GWT iText JabRef jEdit JHotDraw Subversive Vuze
41. Do classes that belong to the same linguistic topic have similar ownership characteristics?
42. Do classes that belong to the same linguistic topic have similar ownership characteristics?
43. Do similar linguistic topics have similar ownership characteristics?
44. Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Document Documents Subtopics Supertopics System topic
45. Do similar linguistic topics have similar ownership characteristics?
46. Do similar linguistic topics have similar ownership characteristics?
47. Threats
48. No commit classification
49. Invalid Java files, PAM parameters
50. Java systems on SVN
51. Where to explore next?
52. Classes within a topic have similar ownership Similar topics have similar ownership Conclusion
53. Thanks! C.S. Corley, E. A. Kammer, and N. A. Kraft Department of Computer Science, The University of Alabama Images used: http://flic.kr/y/my4BeJ Modeling the Ownership of Source Code Topics History miner: http://github.com/software-eng-ua-edu/ohm
54. address port network inet tcp socket udp proxy admin nat host protocol bind local socks addresses server interface exception http
55. core.networkmanager.admin.NetworkAdminASN core.networkmanager.admin.NetworkAdminNATDevice core.networkmanager.admin.NetworkAdminNetworkInterface core.networkmanager.admin.NetworkAdminProtocol core.networkmanager.admin.NetworkAdminRoutesListener core.networkmanager.admin.impl.NetworkAdminProtocolTester core.proxy.socks.impl.AESocksProxyAddressImpl core.util.NetUtils net.natpmp.NatPMPDevice
56. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 >
57. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 >
58. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956
59. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956
60. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956
61. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.04
62. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.04
63. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.04
64. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.0 0.04
65. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.0 0.04
66. class Foo: < 4, 32, 9, 0, 0 > class Bar: < 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 > class Yak: < 1, 0, 0, 2, 2 > topic FooBarYak: < 5, 34, 9, 2, 2 > 0.956 0.0 0.04 0.332
67. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* This is our Brick class. It will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. Bricks are cool. */ class Brick { private int width; private int height; public Brick(int width, int height){ // Set this brick's dimensions this.width = width; this.height = height; } public String toString(){ return "Brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
68. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* This is our Brick class. It will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. Bricks are cool. */ class Brick { private int width; private int height; public Brick(int width, int height){ // Set this brick's dimensions this.width = width; this.height = height; } public String toString(){ return "Brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
69. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* This is our Brick class. It will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. Bricks are cool. */ class Brick { private int width; private int height; public Brick(int width, int height){ // Set this brick's dimensions this.width = width; this.height = height; } public String toString(){ return "Brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
70. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* This is our Brick class. It will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. Bricks are cool. */ class Brick { private int width; private int height; public Brick(int width, int height){ // Set this brick s dimensions this width = width; this.height = height; } public String to String(){ return "Brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
71. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* this is our brick class. it will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. bricks are cool. */ class brick{ private int width; private int height; public brick(int width, int height){ // set this brick s dimensions this width = width; this height = height; } public String to string(){ return "brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
72. package edu.ua.eng.software.ohm; /* this is our brick class. it will represent bricks * we can use to build things with. bricks are cool. */ class brick{ private int width; private int height; public brick(int width, int height){ // set this brick s dimensions this width = width; this height = height; } public String to string(){ return "brick is " + width + " wide and " + height + " tall!"; } }
73. brick represent bricks use build things cool height width set dimensions wide tall
74. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
75. ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
76. 0.0 0.5 1.0
77. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
78. ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
79. ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
80. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
81. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
82. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0
83. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 0.0 0.5 1.0