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@art3starr@mastodon.social

Post #1023376

2026-03-31 01:19 UTC

Hi Everyone! Iโ€™m excited to share that I just had a paper accepted in ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) co-authored with @mastorey , where we present a grounded theory, rooted in cognitive science, of the developerโ€™s cognitive experience of troubleshooting and overcoming confusion. Our theory ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜†๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—นโ€”๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜. https://artystarr.com/blog/giving-developers-words

Replies (4)

  • @DaleHagglund@hachyderm.io 2026-03-31 07:18

    @art3starr@mastodon.social @mastorey@mastodon.acm.org Just read the blog article you point to here, and it's very interesting.. The idea of troubleshooting time as a direct representation of the growing complexity of software is very interesting, and at least for me, it aligns well with my personal experience. One of the metaphors I've used, at least in my own mind, is the notion of software being "under my control", and although I doubt I ever attempted to give it a precise definition, I think it relates closely to the idea that whatever software I'm talking about doesn't give me many surprises in it's behaviour.

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  • @rhempel@cosocial.ca 2026-03-31 12:46

    @art3starr@mastodon.social @mastorey@mastodon.acm.org Hey this resonates with my experience too, especially the drain and the inspiration I get from troubleshooting. One of the dissonant concepts that is very hard to convey is the idea of "engineering harder or more formally" to make the process of software development more predictable. It's possible to reduce chaos, of course, but beyond a certain point you add friction to the process and that leads to ... more chaos. @grimalkina@mastodon.social

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  • @art3starr@mastodon.social @mastorey@mastodon.acm.org @JeffGrigg@mastodon.social Fascinating. I feel that in this land of cognitive complexity, there be monsters. Likely, malevolent code patterns (aka dark patterns) hide in projects beset with high indecipherability.

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  • @dahukanna@mastodon.social 2026-04-06 12:14

    @art3starr@mastodon.social @mastorey@mastodon.acm.org 1/2 My software tools system mental-model: 1. creative intent from past (experience & research) to address specific problem/need & assumptions by makers-closed system 2. adaptive adjustment behavior in present by people using tool to address specific problem/need & gap in assumptions by makers-open system 3. Usually non-existent feedback loop between adaptive adjustment and imagined intent between these 2 groups. (Troubleshooting unexpected) - https://mastodon.social/@dahukanna/116345373302843943

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