Anthony Cox

Browsing and searching software architectures

Software architecture visualization tools tend to support browsing, that is, exploration by following concepts. If architectural diagrams are to be used during daily software maintenance tasks, these tools also need to support specific fact-finding through searching. Searching is essential to program comprehension and hypothesis testing. Furthermore, searching allows users to reverse the abstractions in architectural diagrams and access facts in the underlying program code. We consider the problem of searching and browsing software architectures using perspectives from information retrieval and program comprehension. After analyzing our own user studies and results from the literature, we propose a solution: the Searchable Bookshelf, an architecture visualization tool that supports both navigation styles. We also present a prototype of our tool which is an extension of an existing architecture visualization tool.

The influence of female attractiveness on competitor derogation

Female competitor derogation has been found to involve evaluations of facial attrac- tiveness, such that women are more likely to derogate other women when they are most fertile (FISHER 2004). However, the ultimate purpose of this derogation remains unknown. In this article, we explore the possibility that womens derogations of rivals will influence potential mates, such that derogatory comments cause men to lower their attractiveness judgments of the rivals. More- over, given that attractive women should be more preferred as mates by men, we investigate how a womans facial attractiveness can affect her ability to influence mens perceptions. Our results indicate that the type of statements one makes significantly influences ratings of attractiveness, and that derogations by an attractive woman are more effective in their ability to influence mens evaluations of female facial attractiveness than are derogations by an unattractive woman. These effects do not hold for women, who are not significantly swayed by the attractiveness of the de- rogator. Several directions for future research are presented.

Extending the Use of Games in Health Care

Digital games have the ability to engage both children and adults alike. We are exploring the use of games for children with long term treatment regimes, where motivation for compliance is a key factor in the success of the treatment. In this paper, we describe the game framework we are building for this purpose. This framework is meant to support the long term use of a gaming world for children with three main goals: (a) provide easy and continual gaming access on a range of computing appliances including small screen devices; (b) offer games that can be personalized and are adaptable based on the child’s interests or specific illness; and (c) maintain novelty and interest in the treatment over time. This framework not only provides a benefit to the children involved, but also provides user data to the coaches, clinicians, and health researchers involved in the child’s treatment regime.

Using Sex Differences to Link Spatial Cognition and Program Comprehension

Spatial cognition and program development have both been examined using contrasting models. We suggest that sex-based differences in ones perception of risk is the key to relating these models. Specifically, the survey map approach to navigation and the top-down development/comprehension strategy use similar and related high risk cognitive skills that males show a preference towards. Conversely, the route-based approach to navigation and the bottom-up development/comprehension strategy use similar and related low risk cognitive skills that women show a preference towards. On the assumption that programmers are consistent in their risk-taking behaviours, we believe that they, as much as possible, tend to use the same strategy when performing program development and comprehension. In an experimental setting, we compare programmers performance on spatial cognition and program comprehension tasks. The correlations that we found suggest that programmers use equivalently risky strategies for program comprehension and spatial cognition. Thus, there is evidence that similar cognitive skills are used for spatial cognition and program comprehension/development, and that the similarities are a consequence of sex-based differences in risk-taking behaviour

Sex Differences in Feelings of Guilt Arising from Infidelity

Although there is extensive literature regarding sex differences in jealousy due to infidelity, guilt resulting from infidelity remains unexplored. We hypothesize that men will feel guiltier from imagined emotional rather than sexual infidelity, as it is most important for their partners reproductive success. Similarly, we predict that women will feel more guilt from imagined sexual rather than emotional infidelity. The findings indicate a different pattern; men feel guiltier following sexual infidelity, whereas women feel guiltier following emotional infidelity. Results also show that both sexes believe their partners would have a more difficult time forgiving sexual, rather than emotional, infidelity, but women and not men report that sexual infidelity would more likely lead to relationship dissolution. These findings are discussed in view of evolved mating strategies and individual reproductive success.

Syntactic approximation using iterative lexical analysis

Syntactic irregularities, which often occur in source-code undergoing maintenance, prevent the application of analysis and comprehension tools that employ traditional parsing techniques. As an alternative to parsing, we have developed an iterative lexical technique that is based on the repetitive application of regular expressions using a shortest-match strategy. The approach recognizes syntactic elements using iterative refinement, where unambiguous constructs are identified to provide contextual cues for the identification of more ambiguous constructs. The use of a shortest-match strategy supports the bottom up construction of a syntax tree by identifying smaller subtrees first. To examine the techniques effectiveness, we present the results of an experiment comparing iterative lexical analysis against parsing. The measures of precision and recall are used to evaluate and compare the two approaches.

SELF-PROMOTION VERSUS COMPETITOR DEROGATION: THE INFLUENCE OF SEX AND ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP STATUS ON INTRASEXUAL COMPETITION STRATEGY SELECTION

Abstract In a series of two studies, we explored peoples selection of self-promotion or competitor derogation when intrasexually competing for mates, as influenced by sex and romantic relationship involvement. In Study 1, student participants completed a forced-choice survey outlining six hypothetical competitive tactics. The findings indicated that self-promotion was chosen more often than competitor derogation, regardless of sex and current relationship involvement. In Study 2, we relied upon a community sample that completed a continuous measure that expanded upon the survey of Study 1. We found that women reported significantly more self-promotion than men, and men reported significantly more competitor derogation. Individuals who were romantically uninvolved and those who were dating reported higher levels of self-promotion and competitor derogation than those who were married or in a common-law relationship. Social desirability impacted on competitor derogation but not self-promotion. In contrast, ...

Relocating XML elements from preprocessed to unprocessed code

Transformations performed on source code by a preprocessor complicate the accurate reporting of information extracted to support program comprehension. Differences between the file input to the preprocessor and the output seen by parser-based analyzers creates a need for techniques to back-locate extracted information. To correctly map analysis results back to the preprocessor input files requires a record of the substitutions performed by the preprocessor. This record takes the form of a list, for each character, of the directives responsible for the characters inclusion in the preprocessors output. We have developed algorithms to utilize the substitution history for the start and end tags of an XML element to correctly place the element in the unprocessed source. The use of substitution histories ensures that element relocation produces well-formed XML.

Representing and accessing extracted information

Source code repositories best support program, comprehension tasks when they can successfully answer the many questions a maintainer conceives. To provide the flexibility needed to answer these questions, the Jupiter repository system has been developed. Jupiter using Maia, a model based on annotations, indices and attributes, can store any of the syntactic, type and flow information extractable from a program. Jupiters query language, Mercury, formed by merging an existing query language with Scheme, is used to access the repository and manipulate query solutions. Together these components provide a foundation on which to build systems for solving the queries that occur during program comprehension.

Adding control-flow to a visual data-flow representation

Previous studies have shown that novices do not tend to extract or use data-flow information during program comprehension. However, for impact analysis and similar tasks, data-flow information is necessary and highly relevant. Visual data-flow programming languages, such as Prograph/CPX, have been commercially successful, suggesting that they provide effective data-flow representations. To explore data-flow representations for program comprehension, we augment Prograph data-flow programs with control-flow features to determine the effects on comprehension. We hypothesize that combined control/data-flow representations will aide comprehension better than data-flow alone. To validate this hypothesis, we present the results of an experiment comparing three combined representations against a data-flow only representation. While the addition of control-flow was found to be beneficial, the complexity of the representations plays an important role. Complex and highly detailed control-flow, although perceived as useful, is less effective when combined with data-flow, than less detailed and less complex control-flow descriptions. This finding suggests a tradeoff exists between a representations content and complexity. We found a nested representation describing inter-method control-flow to be the most effective for supporting program comprehension.