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README files play an essential role in shaping a developer's first impression of a software repository and in documenting the software project that the repository hosts. Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of the content of a typical…
The README file serves as a critical source of information for gaining an overview and helping developers onboard to an Open Source Software (OSS) project. Yet, documentation issues persist; in particular, ``outdated'' documentation is…
Contemporary software projects often utilize a README.md to share crucial information such as installation and usage examples related to their software. Furthermore, these files serve as an important source of updated and useful…
Software documentation captures detailed knowledge about a software product, e.g., code, technologies, and design. It plays an important role in the coordination of development teams and in conveying ideas to various stakeholders. However,…
Readme in GitHub repositories serves as a preliminary source of information, and thus helps developers in understanding about the projects, for reuse or extension. Different types of contextual and structural content, which we refer to as…
README and CONTRIBUTING files can serve as the first point of contact for potential contributors to free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) projects. Prominent open source software organizations such as Mozilla, GitHub, and the Linux…
Developers use and contribute to repositories on GitHub. Documentation present in the repositories serves as an important source by helping developers to understand, maintain and contribute to the project. Currently, documentation in a…
Commit messages play a crucial role in collaborative software development. They provide a clear and concise description of the changes made to the source code. However, many commit messages among students' projects lack useful information.…
GitHub is the world's most popular platform for storing, sharing, and managing code. Every GitHub repository has a README file associated with it. The README files should contain project-related information as per the recommendations of…
Motivation: Code understandability is crucial in software development, as developers spend 58% to 70% of their time reading source code. Improving it can improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs. Problem: Experimental studies often…
READMEs shape first impressions of software projects, yet what constitutes a good README varies across audiences and contexts. Research software needs reproducibility details, while open-source libraries might prioritize quick-start guides.…
Agentic coding tools receive goals written in natural language as input, break them down into specific tasks, and write or execute the actual code with minimal human intervention. Central to this process are agent context files ("READMEs…
The availability of open-source projects facilitates developers to contribute and collaborate on a wide range of projects. As a result, the developer community contributing to such open-source projects is also increasing. Many of the…
Quantum computing is rapidly advancing, but quantum software development faces significant challenges, including a steep learning curve, high hardware error rates, and a lack of mature engineering practices. This study conducts a…
A central function of code review is to increase understanding; helping reviewers understand a code change aids in knowledge transfer and finding bugs. Comments in code largely serve a similar purpose, helping future readers understand the…
Effectively assimilating and integrating reviewer feedback is crucial for researchers seeking to refine their papers and handle potential rebuttal phases in academic venues. However, traditional review digestion processes present challenges…
GitHub commits, which record the code changes with natural language messages for description, play a critical role for software developers to comprehend the software evolution. To promote the development of the open-source software…
Migration guides are a form of software documentation that helps developers address breaking changes introduced in library version updates. Prior studies have examined documents such as release notes, API reference manuals, and patch notes.…
Storing user-specific configuration files in a "dotfiles" repository is a common practice among software developers, with hundreds of thousands choosing to publicly host their repositories on GitHub. This practice not only provides…
A software release note is one of the essential documents in the software development life cycle. The software release contains a set of information, e.g., bug fixes and security fixes. Release notes are used in different phases, e.g.,…