Males' and Females' Script Debugging Strategies

  • Authors:

  • Valentina Grigoreanu;James Brundage;Eric Bahna;Margaret Burnett;Paul Elrif;Jeffrey Snover

  • Affiliations:

  • School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA 97331 and Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, USA;Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, USA;Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, USA;School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA 97331;Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, USA;Microsoft, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington, USA

  • Venue:
  • IS-EUD '09 Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on End-User Development
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

Little research has addressed IT professionals' script debugging strategies, or considered whether there may be gender differences in these strategies. What strategies do male and female scripters use and what kinds of mechanisms do they employ to successfully fix bugs? Also, are scripters' debugging strategies similar to or different from those of spreadsheet debuggers? Without the answers to these questions, tool designers do not have a target to aim at for supporting how male and female scripters want to go about debugging. We conducted a think-aloud study to bridge this gap. Our results include (1) a generalized understanding of debugging strategies used by spreadsheet users and scripters, (2) identification of the multiple mechanisms scripters employed to carry out the strategies, and (3) detailed examples of how these debugging strategies were employed by males and females to successfully fix bugs.