research-article

What influences dwell time during source code reading?: analysis of element type and frequency as factors

Authors:

Teresa Busjahn,

Roman Bednarik,

Carsten SchulteAuthors Info & Claims

ETRA '14: Proceedings of the Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications

Pages 335 - 338

https://doi.org/10.1145/2578153.2578211

Published: 26 March 2014 Publication History

Abstract

While knowledge about reading behavior in natural-language text is abundant, little is known about the visual attention distribution when reading source code of computer programs. Yet, this knowledge is important for teaching programming skills as well as designing IDEs and programming languages. We conducted a study in which 15 programmers with various expertise read short source codes and recorded their eye movements. In order to study attention distribution on code elements, we introduced the following procedure: First we (pre)-processed the eye movement data using log-transformation. Taking into account the word lengths, we then analyzed the time spent on different lexical elements. It shows that most attention is oriented towards understanding of identifiers, operators, keywords and literals, relatively little reading time is spent on separators. We further inspected the attention on keywords and provide a description of the gaze on these primary building blocks for any formal language. The analysis indicates that approaches from research on natural-language text reading can be applied to source code as well, however not without review.

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Cited By

Hauser FGrabinger LEzer TMottok JGruber H(2024)Analyzing and Interpreting Eye Movements in C++: Using Holistic Models of Image PerceptionProceedings of the 2024 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications10.1145/3649902.3655093(1-7)Online publication date: 4-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649902.3655093
Grabinger LHauser FWolff CMottok J(2024)On Eye Tracking in Software EngineeringSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-024-03045-35:6Online publication date: 26-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-024-03045-3
Tang YCai J(2023)Impact and Prediction of AI Diagnostic Report Interpretation Type on Patient TrustFrontiers in Computing and Intelligent Systems10.54097/fcis.v3i3.85673:3(59-65)Online publication date: 17-May-2023
https://doi.org/10.54097/fcis.v3i3.8567
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Index Terms

What influences dwell time during source code reading?: analysis of element type and frequency as factors
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Artificial intelligence
    1. Philosophical/theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence
      1. Cognitive science
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ETRA '14: Proceedings of the Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications

March 2014

394 pages

ISBN:9781450327510

DOI:10.1145/2578153

Conference Chairs:
Pernilla Qvarfordt
FX Palo Alto Laboratory
,
Dan Witzner Hansen
IT University, Denmark

Copyright © 2014 Owner/Author.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Published: 26 March 2014

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ETRA '14

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ETRA '14: Eye Tracking Research and Applications

March 26 - 28, 2014

Florida, Safety Harbor

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Overall Acceptance Rate 69 of 137 submissions, 50%

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Cited By

Hauser FGrabinger LEzer TMottok JGruber H(2024)Analyzing and Interpreting Eye Movements in C++: Using Holistic Models of Image PerceptionProceedings of the 2024 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications10.1145/3649902.3655093(1-7)Online publication date: 4-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649902.3655093
Grabinger LHauser FWolff CMottok J(2024)On Eye Tracking in Software EngineeringSN Computer Science10.1007/s42979-024-03045-35:6Online publication date: 26-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s42979-024-03045-3
Tang YCai J(2023)Impact and Prediction of AI Diagnostic Report Interpretation Type on Patient TrustFrontiers in Computing and Intelligent Systems10.54097/fcis.v3i3.85673:3(59-65)Online publication date: 17-May-2023
https://doi.org/10.54097/fcis.v3i3.8567
Katona J(2023)An Eye Movement Study in Unconventional Usage of Different Software ToolsSensors10.3390/s2308382323:8(3823)Online publication date: 8-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23083823
Homann AGrabinger LHauser FMottok J(2023)An Eye Tracking Study on MISRA C Coding GuidelinesProceedings of the 5th European Conference on Software Engineering Education10.1145/3593663.3593671(130-137)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3593663.3593671
Aljehane SSharif BMaletic J(2023)Studying Developer Eye Movements to Measure Cognitive Workload and Visual Effort for Expertise AssessmentProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35911357:ETRA(1-18)Online publication date: 18-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3591135
Hauser FGrabinger LMottok JGruber H(2023)Visual Expertise in Code ReviewsProceedings of the 2023 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications10.1145/3588015.3589189(1-7)Online publication date: 30-May-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3588015.3589189
Kapoor AXie TKwan LGardner-Mccune CDoyle MStephenson BDorn BSoh LBattestilli L(2023)Logistics, Affordances, and Evaluation of Build ProgrammingProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569756(179-185)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
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Lu XFunabiki NKyaw HHtet EAung SDim N(2022)Value Trace Problems for Code Reading Study in C ProgrammingAdvances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal10.25046/aj0701037:1(14-26)Online publication date: Jan-2022
https://doi.org/10.25046/aj070103
Jambon FVanderdonckt J(2022)UsyBus: A Communication Framework among Reusable Agents integrating Eye-Tracking in Interactive ApplicationsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35322076:EICS(1-36)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2022
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