TY - GEN
T1 - Network analysis of software repositories
T2 - Identifying subject matter experts
AU - Dittrich, Andrew
AU - Gunes, Mehmet Hadi
AU - Dascalu, Sergiu
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - A software developer joining a large software project faces a steep learning curve before they are able to make real contributions. One challenge is finding the subject matter experts who can answer questions about a specific area of the software or to review changes. This is especially true of large projects with many modules and a large number of authors. In this paper, we describe a method to model a software project as a network using information mined from the project's version control repository, and demonstrate how network analysis techniques can be used to identify the key authors and subject matter experts. We investigate metrics that can be gathered using network analysis, such as which groups of authors typically work together, and how closely knit the developers are on a project. We analyze several specific projects to demonstrate the applicability of these techniques and several hundred projects to show general trends.
AB - A software developer joining a large software project faces a steep learning curve before they are able to make real contributions. One challenge is finding the subject matter experts who can answer questions about a specific area of the software or to review changes. This is especially true of large projects with many modules and a large number of authors. In this paper, we describe a method to model a software project as a network using information mined from the project's version control repository, and demonstrate how network analysis techniques can be used to identify the key authors and subject matter experts. We investigate metrics that can be gathered using network analysis, such as which groups of authors typically work together, and how closely knit the developers are on a project. We analyze several specific projects to demonstrate the applicability of these techniques and several hundred projects to show general trends.
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-30287-9_20
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-30287-9_20
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84867467967
SN - 9783642302862
T3 - Studies in Computational Intelligence
SP - 187
EP - 198
BT - Complex Networks
ER -