Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36159895›Full record

ArticleEmpirical software engineering2022

The human experience of comprehending source code in virtual reality.

James Dominic, Brock Tubre, Deborah Kunkel, Paige Rodeghero

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Empirical software engineering, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

James DominicClemson University, Clemson, SC USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4805-6762
Brock TubreClemson University, Clemson, SC USA.
Deborah KunkelClemson University, Clemson, SC USA.
Paige RodegheroClemson University, Clemson, SC USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology used in various domains such as medicine, psychotherapy, architecture, and gaming. Recently, software engineering researchers have started to explore virtual reality as a tool for programmers. However, few studies examine source code comprehension in VR. This paper explores the human experience of comprehending source code in VR and compares it to source code comprehension in a desktop environment. We conducted a study with 26 graduate student programmers. We measured actual productivity, perceived productivity and used the NASA Task Load Index (TLX) survey to measure various factors such as mental demand, physical demand, temporal demand, performance, effort, and frustration. We found that the programmers experienced more physical demand, effort, and overall task load when reading and comprehending code in VR. However, we did not observe any statistically significant differences in the programmers' measured productivity or perceived productivity between VR and desktop comprehension.

Indexed as

Code comprehensionHuman experienceVirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID36159895
PMCPMC9486787

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.