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Chapter 2
Unweaving Code Search Toward
Remixing-Centered Programming Support
Kumiyo Nakakoji, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, and Yoshiyuki Nishinaka
Abstract
Recognizing that programming is basically remixing, this chapter looks
into the cognitive, social, and practical aspects of searching for and using existing
code in a programming task. A code search mechanism undoubtedly plays an essen-
tial supporting role in a developer's search for code in his or her own programming
task. Supporting code search activities, however, demands more than code search
mechanisms. At the same time, code search mechanisms also help a developer in a
wider spectrum of programming activities. We present the anatomy of the cognitive
activity in which a developer searches for existing code, and we propose
efficacy
and
attitude
as two dimensions depicting code search activity. We discuss areas of nec-
essary technical and socio-technical support for code search activities in addition
to code search mechanisms. We conclude the chapter by calling for a developer-
centered remixing-oriented development environment.
2.1 Unweaving Code Search
Everything is a remix.
1
A large part of software is built by using existing code from
open source software (OSS) via the Web. Programming is now viewed as basically
remixing.
As Henning [
19
] noted, development style has changed from the 1970s and
1980s, when developers pretty much wrote everything from scratch. A number of
K. Nakakoji (
)
Y. N i s h i n a k a
Software Research Associates Inc., 2-32-8 Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima,
Tokyo, 171-8513, Japan
e-mail:
kumiyo@acm.org
;
nisinaka@motr.jp
Y. Yamamoto
Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan
e-mail:
yxy@acm.org
1
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