What Java developers know about compatibility, and why this matters

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F49777513%3A23520%2F16%3A43925694" target="_blank" >RIV/49777513:23520/16:43925694 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-015-9389-1" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-015-9389-1</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10664-015-9389-1" target="_blank" >10.1007/s10664-015-9389-1</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

What Java developers know about compatibility, and why this matters

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Real-world programs are neither monolithic nor static-they are constructed using platform and third party libraries, and both programs and libraries continuously evolve in response to change pressure. In case of the Java language, rules defined in the Java Language and Java Virtual Machine Specifications define when library evolution is safe. These rules distinguish between three types of compatibility-binary, source and behavioural. We claim that some of these rules are counter intuitive and not well-understood by many developers. We present the results of a survey where we quizzed developers about their understanding of the various types of compatibility. 414 developers responded to our survey. We find that while most programmers are familiar with the rules of source compatibility, they generally lack knowledge about the rules of binary and behavioural compatibility. This can be problematic when organisations switch from integration builds to technologies that require dynamic linking, such as OSGi. We have assessed the gravity of the problem by studying how often linkage-related problems are referenced in issue tracking systems, and find that they are common.

Název v anglickém jazyce

What Java developers know about compatibility, and why this matters

Popis výsledku anglicky

Real-world programs are neither monolithic nor static-they are constructed using platform and third party libraries, and both programs and libraries continuously evolve in response to change pressure. In case of the Java language, rules defined in the Java Language and Java Virtual Machine Specifications define when library evolution is safe. These rules distinguish between three types of compatibility-binary, source and behavioural. We claim that some of these rules are counter intuitive and not well-understood by many developers. We present the results of a survey where we quizzed developers about their understanding of the various types of compatibility. 414 developers responded to our survey. We find that while most programmers are familiar with the rules of source compatibility, they generally lack knowledge about the rules of binary and behavioural compatibility. This can be problematic when organisations switch from integration builds to technologies that require dynamic linking, such as OSGi. We have assessed the gravity of the problem by studying how often linkage-related problems are referenced in issue tracking systems, and find that they are common.

Druh

J_x - Nezařazeno - Článek v odborném periodiku (Jimp, Jsc a Jost)

CEP obor

IN - Informatika

OECD FORD obor

—

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/ED1.1.00%2F02.0090" target="_blank" >ED1.1.00/02.0090: NTIS - Nové technologie pro informační společnost</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2016

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Journal of Empirical Software Engineering

ISSN

1573-7616

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

21

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

3

Stát vydavatele periodika

DE - Spolková republika Německo

Počet stran výsledku

26

Strana od-do

1371-1396

Kód UT WoS článku

000379061700019

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-84966415665