Questions tagged [research]

49 questions
74
votes
18 answers

Why don't research papers that mention custom software release the source code?

Is there a reason why the source code of software mentioned in research papers is not released? I understand that research papers are more about the general idea of accomplishing something than implementation details, but I don't get why they don't…
alecail
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46
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6 answers

What is the difference between development and R&D?

I was asked by a colleague to explain clearly the difference between ordinary development and research and development (R&D) and was unable to do it. After reading Wikipedia, I still don't have the precise answer. According to Wikipedia (slightly…
Arseni Mourzenko
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20
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3 answers

Has research been done on the effectiveness of Planning Poker as an estimation technique?

Although it is a commonly held opinion that planning poker improves the accuracy of project estimations (a small sample of which demonstrated on this question), has any defined research been done on the subject? More specifically, I am looking for…
WLPhoenix
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18
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6 answers

Are writing research papers only for academics?

I have been noticing certain trends about writing research papers in India. They are written either by students or by academics. Do people working in day jobs (like me) in the software industry write research papers? I ask this question because,…
Vinoth Kumar C M
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15
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2 answers

If there are two ways of approaching a task, how should one choose between them?

I have a specific use case, and have found 3 ways of doing it across the internet, which are defined for vague usage cases. I am staring at these three wondering which to apply. I tend to sit there not knowing what to do - then doing nothing... Is…
tomhepz
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13
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2 answers

Are there any build systems that incorporate relative expected task times into the schedule?

Here's a small illustration of my question: Assume a build job that consists of 4 independent tasks named A-D. D takes longer than A-C do in sum. A build system that cannot incorporate the relative task times might schedule the tasks like…
sjakobi
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13
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4 answers

Where can I get a diverse set of sample text?

I am trying to gather statistics on character or word sequences used in the English language for use in a software project. Where can I can get a large amount (several GB would be nice) of English plain-text covering a diverse set of topics?
JSideris
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12
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4 answers

Where could Distributed Version Control Systems currently be in Gartner's hype cycle?

Edit: Given the recent downvoting (+8/-6 at this point) it was made clear to me that Gartner's lifecycle is a biased metric from a programmer's perspective. This is something that is part of a paper I'm going to present to management, and management…
dukeofgaming
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12
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1 answer

Are there any studies on the relationship between software testing practices and developer productivity?

Are there any studies on the relationship between software testing practices (unit and/or integration tests) and developer productivity?
12
votes
2 answers

Pseudocode for Brodal queue

I'm trying to find more resources regarding Brodal heap. All I found is a haskell implementation of Brodal-Okasaki heap, but I think that they are skew heaps, is this correct? Furthermore, I'm illiterate in Haskell so that does not help much. Does…
Kimvais
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11
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3 answers

How do you deal with over-the-head APIs/technology

I guess most people have been in this situation. The initial project planning begins. The requirements are outlined. After architectural review and sorting through APIs/Frameworks the fitting technology is picked. The development starts. And then it…
Coder
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11
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2 answers

Categories of 'for' loops

I remember once reading some research where a body of C code had been analysed, and the findings were that the vast majority of for loops could be categorised into about five categories, corresponding to the functional equivalents of map, filter,…
stusmith
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11
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7 answers

How do I get into R&D?

I'm beginning to think that I might be best suited for a job in R&D. The reason being that I like jobs that allow me to be creative and I generally am more interested in solving puzzles than building things. I really dislike jobs that just boil…
Jason Baker
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10
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3 answers

Planning development when academic research is involved

Dear fellow programmers, how do you do "software planning" when academic research is involved? And, on a side note, how do you convince your boss that writing software is not like building a house and it's more like writing a novel? The gory…
9
votes
5 answers

Convincing "agile" product managers of the value of planning

Became tech lead of a startup a few months ago. Software development is under Product in the org chart. Even by startup standards the codebase I've inherited is poor. Example: the dev team took three weeks to update static text in the footer of the…
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