Useful, But Usable? Factors Affecting the Usability of APIs
Authors:
- Minhaz F. ZibranMZMinhaz F. Zibran
- Farjana Z. EishitaFEFarjana Z. Eishita
- Chanchal K. RoyCRChanchal K. Roy
- 1 October 2011
- conference paper
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- No. 10951350,p. 151-155
Abstract
Software development today has been largely dependent on the use of API libraries, frameworks, and reusable components. However, the API usability issues often increase the development cost (e.g., time, effort) and lower code quality. In this regard, we study 1,513 bug-posts across five different bug repositories, using both qualitative and quantitative analysis. We identify the API usability issues that are reflected in the bug-posts from the API users, and distinguish relative significance of the usability factors. Moreover, from the lessons learned by manual investigation of the bug-posts, we provide further insight into the most frequent API usability issues.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- API usability2009
- The implications of method placement on API learnability2008
- A case study of API redesign for improved usability2008 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, 2008
- Evaluating the Reference and Representation of Domain Concepts in APIs2008
- More natural end-user software engineering2008
- Mapping the Space of API Design Decisions2007
- Usability Implications of Requiring Parameters in Objects' Constructors2007
- The Factory Pattern in API Design: A Usability Evaluation29th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'07), 2007
- Profiling software API usability for consumer electronics2005
- Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces1990