Authors: Lingyao Yuan, Randall K. Minas, Vijay Khatri
Tags: 2012, corrective tasks, eyetracking, heuristics, maintenance, SQL
Software maintenance remains vital to the software development process. Structured Query Language (SQL) is a declarative programming language that enables users to manage information stored in relational databases. SQL code is often taken, adapted, and reused among databases. Corrective SQL maintenance, therefore, is critical in minimizing errors during reuse. There are three components of software maintenance: comprehension, modification, and verification. Furthermore, SQL query formulation has been conceptualized as a three-stage cognitive process of query formulation, query translation, and query writing. Prior literature has examined these stages of query maintenance and writing in a piecemeal fashion. In this study, we take a holistic view of the query writing process, examining the process of comprehension, modification, and verification during query formulation. We use eye-tracking to examine the heuristics SQL novices and experts use to correct problematic SQL code. Our findings will help elucidate the optimal heuristics employed in corrective SQL tasks.
Cite as:
Minas R.K., Yuan L. and Khatri V. (2012), “Top-down, Bottom-up or Just Information Foraging? Exploring the Process of Corrective SQL Maintenance Tasks,” in AIS SIGSAND, Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 1-2, 2012.
