Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers

Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers. de Moura, M., do Nascimento, H., & Rosa, T. In Software Engineering (SBES), 2014 Brazilian Symposium on, pages 41-50, Sept, 2014.

Paper doi abstract bibtex

Previous studies have evaluated the work done by software developers using data extracted from version control systems (VCS). However, they have focused mostly on counting the amount of written lines of code and the number of commits, which are general information that can be obtained from these software repositories. In the present article, we innovate by considering fine-grain operations at line and file levels stored in the VCS, like additions, deletions and modifications, which allow to derive a much more detailed and rich information about the work done by developers. We also define a new set of metrics to measure such fine-grain information and present two simple approaches for comparing developers based on the proposed metrics. This helps to improve our understanding of how important and alike the developers were. A case study using data from a real software development project is described. The study showed that the metrics and the comparative approaches resulted in information that is consistent with the perception of the project manager. Furthermore, our investigation points to a great potential for future work by expanding the set of metrics and exploring new comparative approaches.

@InProceedings{mnr-metrics-2014,
  Title                    = {Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers},
  Author                   = {de Moura, M.H.D. and do Nascimento, H.A.D. and Rosa, T.C.},
  Booktitle                = {Software Engineering (SBES), 2014 Brazilian Symposium on},
  Year                     = {2014},
  Month                    = {Sept},
  Pages                    = {41-50},

  Abstract                 = {Previous studies have evaluated the work done by software developers using data extracted from version control systems (VCS). However, they have focused mostly on counting the amount of written lines of code and the number of commits, which are general information that can be obtained from these software repositories. In the present article, we innovate by considering fine-grain operations at line and file levels stored in the VCS, like additions, deletions and modifications, which allow to derive a much more detailed and rich information about the work done by developers. We also define a new set of metrics to measure such fine-grain information and present two simple approaches for comparing developers based on the proposed metrics. This helps to improve our understanding of how important and alike the developers were. A case study using data from a real software development project is described. The study showed that the metrics and the comparative approaches resulted in information that is consistent with the perception of the project manager. Furthermore, our investigation points to a great potential for future work by expanding the set of metrics and exploring new comparative approaches.},
  Comment                  = {ISBN 9781479942237},
  Doi                      = {10.1109/SBES.2014.25},
  Keywords                 = {configuration management;software metrics;VCS;data extraction;file levels;fine-grain operations;line levels;project manager perception;real software development project;software repositories;version control system;Control systems;Data mining;Data structures;History;Measurement;Software;Teamwork;comparison of software developers;metrics;version control systems},
  Url                      = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6943481}
}

Downloads: 0

{"_id":"tm88RhQGsXMNuAeyK","bibbaseid":"demoura-donascimento-rosa-extractingnewmetricsfromversioncontrolsystemforthecomparisonofsoftwaredevelopers-2014","author_short":["de Moura, M.","do Nascimento, H.","Rosa, T."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"inproceedings","type":"inproceedings","title":"Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers","author":[{"propositions":["de"],"lastnames":["Moura"],"firstnames":["M.H.D."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":["do"],"lastnames":["Nascimento"],"firstnames":["H.A.D."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Rosa"],"firstnames":["T.C."],"suffixes":[]}],"booktitle":"Software Engineering (SBES), 2014 Brazilian Symposium on","year":"2014","month":"Sept","pages":"41-50","abstract":"Previous studies have evaluated the work done by software developers using data extracted from version control systems (VCS). However, they have focused mostly on counting the amount of written lines of code and the number of commits, which are general information that can be obtained from these software repositories. In the present article, we innovate by considering fine-grain operations at line and file levels stored in the VCS, like additions, deletions and modifications, which allow to derive a much more detailed and rich information about the work done by developers. We also define a new set of metrics to measure such fine-grain information and present two simple approaches for comparing developers based on the proposed metrics. This helps to improve our understanding of how important and alike the developers were. A case study using data from a real software development project is described. The study showed that the metrics and the comparative approaches resulted in information that is consistent with the perception of the project manager. Furthermore, our investigation points to a great potential for future work by expanding the set of metrics and exploring new comparative approaches.","comment":"ISBN 9781479942237","doi":"10.1109/SBES.2014.25","keywords":"configuration management;software metrics;VCS;data extraction;file levels;fine-grain operations;line levels;project manager perception;real software development project;software repositories;version control system;Control systems;Data mining;Data structures;History;Measurement;Software;Teamwork;comparison of software developers;metrics;version control systems","url":"http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6943481","bibtex":"@InProceedings{mnr-metrics-2014,\n Title = {Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers},\n Author = {de Moura, M.H.D. and do Nascimento, H.A.D. and Rosa, T.C.},\n Booktitle = {Software Engineering (SBES), 2014 Brazilian Symposium on},\n Year = {2014},\n Month = {Sept},\n Pages = {41-50},\n\n Abstract = {Previous studies have evaluated the work done by software developers using data extracted from version control systems (VCS). However, they have focused mostly on counting the amount of written lines of code and the number of commits, which are general information that can be obtained from these software repositories. In the present article, we innovate by considering fine-grain operations at line and file levels stored in the VCS, like additions, deletions and modifications, which allow to derive a much more detailed and rich information about the work done by developers. We also define a new set of metrics to measure such fine-grain information and present two simple approaches for comparing developers based on the proposed metrics. This helps to improve our understanding of how important and alike the developers were. A case study using data from a real software development project is described. The study showed that the metrics and the comparative approaches resulted in information that is consistent with the perception of the project manager. Furthermore, our investigation points to a great potential for future work by expanding the set of metrics and exploring new comparative approaches.},\n Comment = {ISBN 9781479942237},\n Doi = {10.1109/SBES.2014.25},\n Keywords = {configuration management;software metrics;VCS;data extraction;file levels;fine-grain operations;line levels;project manager perception;real software development project;software repositories;version control system;Control systems;Data mining;Data structures;History;Measurement;Software;Teamwork;comparison of software developers;metrics;version control systems},\n Url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6943481}\n}\n\n","author_short":["de Moura, M.","do Nascimento, H.","Rosa, T."],"key":"mnr-metrics-2014","id":"mnr-metrics-2014","bibbaseid":"demoura-donascimento-rosa-extractingnewmetricsfromversioncontrolsystemforthecomparisonofsoftwaredevelopers-2014","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6943481"},"keyword":["configuration management;software metrics;VCS;data extraction;file levels;fine-grain operations;line levels;project manager perception;real software development project;software repositories;version control system;Control systems;Data mining;Data structures;History;Measurement;Software;Teamwork;comparison of software developers;metrics;version control systems"],"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"inproceedings","biburl":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ivatoufg/ivatoufg.github.io/main/publicacoes_ivato.bib","dataSources":["pdiowiFz3NQoprmiW"],"keywords":["configuration management;software metrics;vcs;data extraction;file levels;fine-grain operations;line levels;project manager perception;real software development project;software repositories;version control system;control systems;data mining;data structures;history;measurement;software;teamwork;comparison of software developers;metrics;version control systems"],"search_terms":["extracting","new","metrics","version","control","system","comparison","software","developers","de moura","do nascimento","rosa"],"title":"Extracting New Metrics from Version Control System for the Comparison of Software Developers","year":2014}