New call -- RE: For Eiffel programmers interested in taking part in an automatic-program-repair study

[Bertrand Meyer (ETH)]

The study referred to below will take place on June 26-27 (second part of next week), in a 2-hour time slot that can participants can choose in a way that fits their schedule.

 

I wrote an acknowledgement to members of this group who answered. (If you did not get it I must have missed an email, please write back.) We do not quite have as many participants as we would (for statistical significance), so I would like to prompt further, soliciting in particular some of the long-time participants in the group.

 

I recently ran through the test (not for my results to be counted, which would be biased since I helped design it, but as part of checking the questions and fine-tuning the process in advance) and found it quite interesting. The task is simply to examine some buggy Eiffel examples and devise fixes.

 

As before, if you are willing to help and have not yet volunteered, just send me an email.

 

Thanks and best regards,

 

-- Bertrand Meyer

 

From: Bertrand Meyer <Bertran...@inf.ethz.ch>
Sent: 12 May, 2025 14:30
To: eiffel...@googlegroups.com
Cc: me...@inf.ethz.ch
Subject: For Eiffel programmers interested in taking part in an automatic-program-repair study

 

Dear members of this Eiffel group,

 

In the context of research on Automatic Program Repair at Constructor Institute of Technology, we are looking for Eiffel programmers willing to participate in a study. Basically, we will give you some buggy programs and ask you to correct them.

 

The study will take place in June and will be off-line, meaning that you can perform the tests at any convenient time within the deadlines (which typically will be of a few days).

 

There is no particular benefit other than helping research and (unless you prefer otherwise) being acknowledged in the resulting paper or papers. The conditions are:

 

• To be familiar with Eiffel programming. You do not need to be an expert but must have written, compiled and run some Eiffel before.
• To have access to a working Eiffel installation.
• To commit to doing the tests within the deadlines.

 

The total effort will be a few hours. We do not have a precise estimate but expect that the time will be around 3-4 hours, with an absolute maximum of 10.

 

An example of the kind of work we are doing in this area appears here: https://se.inf.ethz.ch/~meyer/publications/proofs/execution_free_program_repair-FSE-2024.pdf. You do not need to read it to participate in the study.

 

If you are willing to help, please send me a note at mailto:Bertran...@inf.etz.ch, indicating your preferred email for contact (if not the Reply address of your message). Please include the same Subject as the present message, possibly with “Re:” or equivalent. You can include a self-assessed indication of your Eiffel level: beginner, experienced, expert. (It’s not critical, as we will ask you again at the time of the tests.) Please answer by the end of this week (May 17) so that we can start preparing.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

-- Bertrand Meyer