Design annotations to improve API discoverability

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Santos, A. L.
Data de Publicação: 2017
Outros Autores: Myers, B. A.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/13403
Resumo: User studies have revealed that programmers face several obstacles when learning application programming interfaces (APIs). A considerable part of such difficulties relate to discovery of API elements and the relationships among them. To address discoverability problems, we show how to complement APIs with design annotations, which document design decisions in a program-processable form for types, methods, and parameters. The information provided by the annotations is consumed by the integrated development environment (IDE) in order to assist API users with useful code completion proposals regarding object creation and manipulation, which facilitate API exploration and learning. As a proof of concept, we developed Dacite, a tool which comprises a set of Java annotations and an accompanying plugin for the Eclipse IDE. A user study revealed that Dacite is usable and effective, and Dacite’s proposals enable programmers to be more successful in solving programming tasks involving unfamiliar APIs.
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spelling Design annotations to improve API discoverabilityAPI usabilityAnnotationsCode completionIDEEclipseUser studies have revealed that programmers face several obstacles when learning application programming interfaces (APIs). A considerable part of such difficulties relate to discovery of API elements and the relationships among them. To address discoverability problems, we show how to complement APIs with design annotations, which document design decisions in a program-processable form for types, methods, and parameters. The information provided by the annotations is consumed by the integrated development environment (IDE) in order to assist API users with useful code completion proposals regarding object creation and manipulation, which facilitate API exploration and learning. As a proof of concept, we developed Dacite, a tool which comprises a set of Java annotations and an accompanying plugin for the Eclipse IDE. A user study revealed that Dacite is usable and effective, and Dacite’s proposals enable programmers to be more successful in solving programming tasks involving unfamiliar APIs.Elsevier2017-05-17T09:58:02Z2017-01-01T00:00:00Z20172019-03-22T13:15:35Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10071/13403eng0164-121210.1016/j.jss.2016.12.036Santos, A. L.Myers, B. A.info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccessreponame:Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)instname:FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiainstacron:RCAAP2024-07-07T03:28:31Zoai:repositorio.iscte-iul.pt:10071/13403Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireinfo@rcaap.ptopendoar:https://opendoar.ac.uk/repository/71602025-05-28T18:24:39.433500Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) - FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologiafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Design annotations to improve API discoverability
title Design annotations to improve API discoverability
spellingShingle Design annotations to improve API discoverability
Santos, A. L.
API usability
Annotations
Code completion
IDE
Eclipse
title_short Design annotations to improve API discoverability
title_full Design annotations to improve API discoverability
title_fullStr Design annotations to improve API discoverability
title_full_unstemmed Design annotations to improve API discoverability
title_sort Design annotations to improve API discoverability
author Santos, A. L.
author_facet Santos, A. L.
Myers, B. A.
author_role author
author2 Myers, B. A.
author2_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Santos, A. L.
Myers, B. A.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv API usability
Annotations
Code completion
IDE
Eclipse
topic API usability
Annotations
Code completion
IDE
Eclipse
description User studies have revealed that programmers face several obstacles when learning application programming interfaces (APIs). A considerable part of such difficulties relate to discovery of API elements and the relationships among them. To address discoverability problems, we show how to complement APIs with design annotations, which document design decisions in a program-processable form for types, methods, and parameters. The information provided by the annotations is consumed by the integrated development environment (IDE) in order to assist API users with useful code completion proposals regarding object creation and manipulation, which facilitate API exploration and learning. As a proof of concept, we developed Dacite, a tool which comprises a set of Java annotations and an accompanying plugin for the Eclipse IDE. A user study revealed that Dacite is usable and effective, and Dacite’s proposals enable programmers to be more successful in solving programming tasks involving unfamiliar APIs.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-05-17T09:58:02Z
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z
2017
2019-03-22T13:15:35Z
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10071/13403
url http://hdl.handle.net/10071/13403
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv 0164-1212
10.1016/j.jss.2016.12.036
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
eu_rights_str_mv embargoedAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
instname:FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
instacron:RCAAP
instname_str FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
instacron_str RCAAP
institution RCAAP
reponame_str Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
collection Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP) - FCCN, serviços digitais da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
repository.mail.fl_str_mv info@rcaap.pt
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