Write a Blog >>
ICSE 2020
Wed 24 June - Thu 16 July 2020
Fri 10 Jul 2020 15:12 - 15:24 at Baekje - A22-Cognition Chair(s): Walid Maalej

Software engineering involves writing new code or editing existing code. Recent efforts have investigated the neural processes associated with reading and comprehending code—however, we lack a thorough understanding of the human cognitive processes underlying code writing. While prose reading and writing have been studied thoroughly, that same scrutiny has not been applied to code writing. In this paper, we leverage functional brain imaging to investigate neural representations of code writing in comparison to prose writing. We present the first human study in which participants wrote and edited code and prose while undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scan, making use of a full-sized fMRI-safe QWERTY keyboard.

We find that code writing and prose writing are significantly dissimilar neural tasks. While prose writing entails significant left hemisphere activity associated with language, code writing involves more activations of the right hemisphere, including regions associated with attention control, working memory, planning and spatial cognition. These findings are unlike existing work in which code and prose comprehension were studied. By contrast, we present the first evidence suggesting that code and prose \emph{writing} are quite dissimilar at the neural level.

Fri 10 Jul

Displayed time zone: (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time change

15:00 - 16:00
15:00
12m
Talk
Recognizing Developers' Emotions while ProgrammingTechnicalArtifact Available
Technical Papers
Daniela Girardi University of Bari, Nicole Novielli University of Bari, Davide Fucci Blekinge Institute of Technology, Filippo Lanubile University of Bari
DOI Pre-print
15:12
12m
Talk
Neurological Divide: An fMRI Study of Prose and Code WritingArtifact ReusableTechnicalArtifact Available
Technical Papers
Ryan Krueger University of Michigan, Yu Huang University of Michigan, Xinyu Liu University of Michigan, Tyler Santander University of California at Santa Barbara, Westley Weimer University of Michigan, USA, Kevin Leach University of Michigan
Pre-print
15:24
12m
Talk
Assessing Practitioner BeliefsSEIP
Software Engineering in Practice
Shrikanth N C North Carolina State University, Tim Menzies North Carolina State University
Pre-print Media Attached
15:36
12m
Talk
Here We Go Again: Why Is It Difficult for Developers to Learn Another Programming Language?ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper AwardsTechnical
Technical Papers
Nischal Shrestha North Carolina State University, Colton Botta North Carolina State University, Titus Barik Microsoft, Chris Parnin North Carolina State University
Pre-print
15:48
6m
Talk
Understanding FLOSS through community publications: Strategies for Grey Literature ReviewNIER
New Ideas and Emerging Results
Melissa Wen University of São Paulo, Leonardo Alexandre Ferreira Leite University of São Paulo, Fabio Kon University of São Paulo, Paulo Meirelles Federal University of São Paulo