Git is a widely used version control system that is powerful but complicated. Its complexity may not be an inevitable consequence of its power but rather evidence of flaws in its design. To explore this hypothesis, we analyzed the design of Git using a theory that identifies concepts, purposes, and misfits. Some well-known difficulties with Git are described, and explained as misfits in which underlying concepts fail to meet their intended purpose. Based on this analysis, we designed a reworking of Git (called Gitless) that attempts to remedy these flaws.
To correlate misfits with issues reported by users, we conducted a study of Stack Overflow questions. And to determine whether users experienced fewer complications using Gitless in place of Git, we conducted a small user study. Results suggest our approach can be profitable in identifying, analyzing, and fixing design problems.
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15:40 - 17:20: Programming Frameworks, Tools, and MethodologiesOOPSLA at Matterhorn 2 Chair(s): Emerson Murphy-HillGoogle | |||
15:40 - 16:05 Talk | Purposes, Concepts, Misfits, and a Redesign of Git OOPSLA DOI Pre-print Media Attached | ||
16:05 - 16:30 Talk | Apex: Automatic Programming Assignment Error Explanation OOPSLA Dohyeong KimPurdue University, Yonghwi KwonPurdue University, Peng LiuPurdue University, I Luk KimPurdue University, David Mitchel PerryPurdue University, Xiangyu ZhangPurdue University, Gustavo Rodriguez-RiveraPurdue University DOI Media Attached | ||
16:30 - 16:55 Talk | Asserting Reliable Convergence for Configuration Management Scripts OOPSLA Oliver HanappiVienna University of Technology, Waldemar HummerVienna University of Technology, Schahram DustdarTU Wien DOI | ||
16:55 - 17:20 Talk | Dependent Partitioning OOPSLA Sean TreichlerStanford University, Michael BauerNVIDIA Research, Rahul SharmaMicrosoft Research, Elliott Slaughter, Alex AikenStanford University DOI Media Attached |