Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code

Lo Heander; Emma Söderberg; Christofer Rydenfält

doi:10.1145/3660829.3660842

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code

Lo Heander, Emma Söderberg, Christofer Rydenfält

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Paper in conference proceeding › peer-review

28 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Code review occupies a significant amount of developers’ work time and is an established practice in modern software development. Despite misaligments between users’ goals and the code review tools and processes pointed out by recent research, the code review tooling has largely stayed the same since the early 90s. Improving these tools, even slightly, has the potential for a large impact spread out over time and the large developer community. In this paper, we use the Double Diamond design process to work together with a team of industry practitioners to find, refine, prototype, and evaluate ways to make it easier to compare refactored code blocks and find previously hard-to-see changes in them.
The results show that a flexible comparison modal integrated into Gerrit could reduce the mental load of code review on refactored code. Potentially, it could also have effects on how code is written by no longer discouraging refactoring due to it complicating the review. The user interface created in this collaborative manner was also intuitive enough for all of the participants to be able to use it
without any hints or instructions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming
Editors	Emma Söderberg, Luke Church
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages	57-67
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Electronic)	979-8-4007-0634-9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3660829.3660842
Publication status	Published - 2024 Jul 9
Event	10th Edition of the Programming Experience Workshop, PX/24 - Lund, Sweden Duration: 2024 Mar 11 → 2024 Mar 11

Workshop

Workshop	10th Edition of the Programming Experience Workshop, PX/24
Country/Territory	Sweden
City	Lund
Period	2024/03/11 → 2024/03/11

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Computer Sciences
Human Computer Interaction

Free keywords

code review
collaborative design
double diamond design process
focus group

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3660829.3660842Licence: CC BY

programmingcompanion24-13Final published version, 4.97 MBLicence: CC BY

1 Poster
1 Other

Video Intro: Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code
Heander, L., 2024 Aug 30
Research output: Non-textual form › Other

Open Access
Poster: Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code
Heander, L., Söderberg, E. & Rydenfält, C., 2024 Aug 27.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster

Open Access

2 Active

DAPPER: Seamless, Tailored Code Review
Söderberg, E. (PI), Rydenfält, C. (CoPI), Church, L. (CoPI) & Heander, L. (Research student)
2023/01/01 → 2027/12/31
Project: Research
How can code reviews be made fit-for-purpose?
Heander, L. (Researcher), Söderberg, E. (Supervisor) & Rydenfält, C. (Assistant supervisor)
2023/01/01 → 2027/12/31
Project: Dissertation

1 Organisation of conference
1 Organisation of workshop/ seminar/ course
1 Presentation

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code
Heander, L. (Presenter)
2024 May 6
Activity: Talk or presentation › Presentation
10th Edition of the Programming Experience Workshop, PX/24
Heander, L. (Presenter)
2024 Mar 11
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organisation of workshop/ seminar/ course
The International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming
Söderberg, E. (Organiser) & Church, L. (Organiser)
2024 Mar 11 → 2024 Mar 14
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organisation of conference

Cite this

Heander, L., Söderberg, E., & Rydenfält, C. (2024). Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code. In E. Söderberg, & L. Church (Eds.), Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming (pp. 57-67). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3660829.3660842

Heander, Lo ; Söderberg, Emma ; Rydenfält, Christofer. / Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code. Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming. editor / Emma Söderberg ; Luke Church. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2024. pp. 57-67

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title = "Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code",

abstract = "Code review occupies a significant amount of developers{\textquoteright} work time and is an established practice in modern software development. Despite misaligments between users{\textquoteright} goals and the code review tools and processes pointed out by recent research, the code review tooling has largely stayed the same since the early 90s. Improving these tools, even slightly, has the potential for a large impact spread out over time and the large developer community. In this paper, we use the Double Diamond design process to work together with a team of industry practitioners to find, refine, prototype, and evaluate ways to make it easier to compare refactored code blocks and find previously hard-to-see changes in them.The results show that a flexible comparison modal integrated into Gerrit could reduce the mental load of code review on refactored code. Potentially, it could also have effects on how code is written by no longer discouraging refactoring due to it complicating the review. The user interface created in this collaborative manner was also intuitive enough for all of the participants to be able to use itwithout any hints or instructions.",

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language = "English",

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Heander, L , Söderberg, E & Rydenfält, C 2024, Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code. in E Söderberg & L Church (eds), Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 57-67, 10th Edition of the Programming Experience Workshop, PX/24, Lund, Sweden, 2024/03/11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3660829.3660842

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code. / Heander, Lo ; Söderberg, Emma ; Rydenfält, Christofer.
Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming. ed. / Emma Söderberg; Luke Church. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2024. p. 57-67.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Paper in conference proceeding › peer-review

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AU - Heander, Lo

AU - Söderberg, Emma

AU - Rydenfält, Christofer

PY - 2024/7/9

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N2 - Code review occupies a significant amount of developers’ work time and is an established practice in modern software development. Despite misaligments between users’ goals and the code review tools and processes pointed out by recent research, the code review tooling has largely stayed the same since the early 90s. Improving these tools, even slightly, has the potential for a large impact spread out over time and the large developer community. In this paper, we use the Double Diamond design process to work together with a team of industry practitioners to find, refine, prototype, and evaluate ways to make it easier to compare refactored code blocks and find previously hard-to-see changes in them.The results show that a flexible comparison modal integrated into Gerrit could reduce the mental load of code review on refactored code. Potentially, it could also have effects on how code is written by no longer discouraging refactoring due to it complicating the review. The user interface created in this collaborative manner was also intuitive enough for all of the participants to be able to use itwithout any hints or instructions.

AB - Code review occupies a significant amount of developers’ work time and is an established practice in modern software development. Despite misaligments between users’ goals and the code review tools and processes pointed out by recent research, the code review tooling has largely stayed the same since the early 90s. Improving these tools, even slightly, has the potential for a large impact spread out over time and the large developer community. In this paper, we use the Double Diamond design process to work together with a team of industry practitioners to find, refine, prototype, and evaluate ways to make it easier to compare refactored code blocks and find previously hard-to-see changes in them.The results show that a flexible comparison modal integrated into Gerrit could reduce the mental load of code review on refactored code. Potentially, it could also have effects on how code is written by no longer discouraging refactoring due to it complicating the review. The user interface created in this collaborative manner was also intuitive enough for all of the participants to be able to use itwithout any hints or instructions.

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ER -

Heander L , Söderberg E , Rydenfält C. Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code. In Söderberg E, Church L, editors, Programming '24: Companion Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2024. p. 57-67 doi: 10.1145/3660829.3660842

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code

Abstract

Workshop

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Free keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Research output

Video Intro: Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code​

Poster: Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code

Projects

DAPPER: Seamless, Tailored Code Review

How can code reviews be made fit-for-purpose?

Activities

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code​

10th Edition of the Programming Experience Workshop, PX/24

The International Conference on the Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming

Cite this

Video Intro: Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code

Design of Flexible Code Block Comparisons to Improve Code Review of Refactored Code