Dirk Riehle's Industry and Research Publications

Category: 2.1 Engineering

  • Developer Belief vs. Reality: The Case of the Commit Size Distribution [SE 2012]

    Developer Belief vs. Reality: The Case of the Commit Size Distribution [SE 2012]

    Abstract: The design of software development tools follows from what the developers of such tools believe is true about software development. A key aspect of such beliefs is the size of code contributions (commits) to a software project. In this paper, we show that what tool developers think is true about the size of code…

  • On the Open Cloud Principles: Every Real-World Specification is an Underspecification

    On the Open Cloud Principles: Every Real-World Specification is an Underspecification

    Trying to wrap my head around the Open Cloud Principles put out by the revamp of the Open Cloud Initiative, I’m happy to note that software engineering research has something to say to the challenges these principles will face. Every real-world specification is an underspecification. So, well, I say that, but I doubt that I’m…

  • Is it “Use” or “Reuse”?

    In software engineering, it is an old question whether you are “using” a component or whether you are “reusing” it. People tend to use these two terms interchangeably, annoying those among us who are trying to put precise meaning to terms. Alas, I don’t know of a good commonly accepted definition. I only know that…

  • Every Complex System that Works Started Out as a Simple System that Worked

    The title of this blog post is my paraphrasing of a “law” from the tongue-in-cheek but nevertheless somewhat serious book “Systemantics” by John Gall. I tracked it down through Grady Booch’s original OOAD book and it had been pointed out to me by Ralph Johnson. What’s so special about this quote? Well, it frames an…

  • End-User Programming with Application Wikis

    Title: End-User Programming with Application Wikis: A Panel with Ludovic Dubost, Stewart Nickolas, and Peter Thoeny Author: Dirk Riehle Abstract: Wikis empower users to collaborate with each other using prose. Users imprint data structures and processes onto wiki pages using social and technical conventions. Application wikis enhance wiki engines with lightweight programming features that aid…

  • Towards End-User Programming With Wikis [WEUSE 2008]

    Abstract: When business software fails to provide the desired functionality, users typically turn to spreadsheets to perform simple but general computational tasks. However, spreadsheets enforce a view of the world that consists mostly of tables and numbers rather than the domain concepts users have in mind. We are using wikis as a platform for empowering…