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Visual attention and representation switching during Java program debugging: a study using the restricted focus viewer
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posted on 2023-06-07, 13:24 authored by Pablo Romero, Richard Cox, Benedict du Boulay, Rudi LutzJava program debugging was investigated in programmers who used a software debugging environment (SDE) that provided concurrently displayed, adjacent, multiple and linked representations consisting of the program code, a functional visualisation of the program, and its output. A modified version of the Restricted Focus Viewer (RFV)[#!bla:00!#] - a visual attention tracking system - was employed to measure the degree to which each of the representations was used, and to record switches between representations. Other measures included debugging performance (number of bugs identified, the order in which they were identified, bug discovery latencies, etc.). The aim of this investigation was to address questions such as `To what extent do programmers use each type of representation?' and `Are particular patterns of representational use associated with superior debugging performance?'. A within-subject design, and comparison of performance under (matched) RFV/no-RFV task conditions, allowed the use of the RFV as an attention-tracking tool to be validated in the programming domain. The results also provide tentative evidence that superior debugging using multiple-representation SDE's tends to be associated with a) the predominant use of the program code representation, and b) frequent switches between the code representation and the visualisation of the program execution.
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Publication status
- Published
Publisher
Springer-VerlagExternal DOI
Volume
2317/2Page range
221-235Pages
14.0Book title
Diagrammatic Representation and Inference : Second International Conference, Diagrams 2002 Callaway Gardens, GA, USA, April 18-20, 2002. ProceedingsPlace of publication
Berlin / HeidelbergISBN
9783540435617Series
Lecture Notes in Artificial IntelligenceDepartment affiliated with
- Informatics Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2006-10-26Usage metrics
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