Software Problems That Motivate Web Searches - Finding Source Code on the Web for Remix and Reuse - page 256

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Remember/
Fact Finding

Clarification Learn Look for Tool/

Open Source Project

Type of Searches

Fig. 13.2 Length of web searches by type of software problems

Remembering/Fact Finding Developers knew exactly what they are looking for
when they perform Web searches to remember syntax details or find facts. In
these cases, developers recognized the answer as soon as they see it.
Developers performed searches to remember syntax details of commands or
parameters of a method. As Bob, a developer in our field studies, mentioned
“I always forget how to do this,” when he performed a search to remember the
syntax of a SQL command. In other words, developers were using the Web as
memory aid [ 3 ].
Developers also knew exactly what they are looking for when they were trying
to find facts. For example, the goal of one developer was “to find what was the
last version of HtmlUnit.”
Twenty five percent of the searches we observed are to remember or to find
factsasshowninFig. 13.1 . These searches had the lowest median time and the
tightest distribution as seen in Fig. 13.2 . Query refinements were uncommon in
these cases. Developers tended to visit few results and in some cases they found
the answer just by looking at the list of results.