LIVE: Empirical Studies on the Effects of Liveness on Programming

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Hirschfeld
• Subject Area: Software Engineering and Programming Languages
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 449591262

With our project, we want to forward liveness in development environments to improve program comprehension and with that to help programmers write better code.In the recent past, several research communities introduced the ideas of liveness as “an impression of changing a program while it is running” to an increasing number of domains. Various live programming tools and environments have been created and a number of commercial programming systems, such as Microsoft Excel and Jupyter Notebooks, support liveness to different degrees. While designers of programming environments assume liveness to improve domain exploration and program comprehension, the empirical backing for these claims so far is insufficient and inconclusive. This lack of experimental evidence might not only lead to liveness being promoted in settings in which it is not beneficial, but also in settings in which it yields detrimental effects.In our project, we will determine the effects of liveness on programming. By conducting a family of controlled experiments, we will investigate liveness with respect to task complexity, programmer experience, feedback cycles, and tool support. In a longitudinal study, we will inquire into ways programmers adopt live programming tools and workflows. The insights from this project and derived recommendations will support designers of future programming environments deciding when, where, and how to support liveness.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants