Failure to make necessary upgrades to software code can have dire consequences, such as the major data breach at Equifax. A recent study finds that auto-fix tools are effective ways to get programmers to make the relevant upgrades – if programmers opt to use them. A study at NC State University finds that projects with automated pull requests made 60 percent more of the necessary upgrades than projects that didn’t use any upgrade tools. Read more here. Also, thanks to the Lounge members who helped take part in survey used in the study. Study Finds Auto-Fix Tool Gets More Programmers to Upgrade Code | NC State News | NC State University[^]

Several of you had the chance to contribute to a survey on how you handle out-of-date dependencies. We've completed a study on automated pull requests, badges and their influence on upgrade behaviors. News article and paper can be found below: Study Finds Auto-Fix Tool Gets More Programmers to Upgrade Code | NC State News | NC State University[^]

We're investigating how developers manage software dependencies (apis, libraries, packages, etc.). Help out a student with this quick survey! Why don't you update? What might help?[^]

You underestimate us. That's so 1920s! We can now read your brains, measure your pupils, and test your saliva. http://www.chrisparnin.me/alt-code/[^]

There are amazon gift certificates that I will be giving out at the end of the day to 3 participants. Mentioned on the survey page.

Typical workday is more relevant. Thanks!

Well, there are gift cards that can be used to by things such as this! http://www.amazon.com/Bacon-Cookbook-Mouthwatering-Recipes-Wrapped-ebook/dp/B00KMI827S[^]

We are researchers conducting a survey on fatigue and programming. http://checkbox.io/studies/?id=542c520300b6a6f927000182[^] We previously studied other factors of in the workplace (e.g., Programmer, Interrupted). Your answers will help researchers gather data about fatigue and investigate possible detection and alleviation mechanisms. This will also help us understand and investigate an opposite state of fatigue: flow. Serious and fun answers welcome in the thread :)

Research-Inspired Extensions Hit Visual Studio App Store[^]

Part of the challenge has been helping programmers understand what research is and how it works. A common mistake is to consider experience the same thing as evidence. For years, everyone "knew" that stomach ulcers were caused by stress, until evidence showed that it was actually bacteria. Research in the 60s on bike accidents still affects the way biking laws are instated in the US. Research in SE can impact the idea of open-offices, how technical documentation is created, preventing deathmarches, and create useful tools. But none of that can happen if programmers never let themselves be heard. Stop banging on your keyboard, tell a researcher!

If you read the other messages, I already have over a decade of professional programming experience.

That is the job. What do you think Microsoft Research and IBM Research does? Does a researcher have time to run fMRI studies on programmer's brains while coding on a project too?

So, open a therapy clinic for programmers. Got it :)

Researchers that follow the tenets of ethnography, do exactly that. The argument is that they want to avoid bias. I've been a professional developer since 2000 while going to school, so my perspective is a little more different. The difference is that in the 80s when software engineering research was first being done, there was huge funding and partnerships for researchers to engage with developers at places like NASA. Now there is almost no funding for research in computer science, so SE researchers have moved away from studying software development, and instead focus on things like static analysis. But this has lead to the situation where researchers would study something like debugging tools for 50 years without running a user study!

I'm a Phd student in software engineering at Georgia Tech, who studies how developers work. You might have seen some of my work, such as "Programmer, Interrupted" or Developers Getting 50% of Documentation From Stack Overflow. The funny thing is that most researchers in my community never talk to developers, or rarely even consider real world problems. I'm trying hard to change that and engage more with everyday developers. What do you think would be the best way for researchers to engage with developers? One new direction I am taking is trying to get researchers to at least pool together than research studies and results together: http://checkbox.io/studies.html

Chris Parnin, www.cc.gatech.edu/~vector