How a good software practice thwarts collaboration

• DOI: 10.1145/1029894.1029925
• Publication Date: 2005-01-30T17:55:16Z
• Authors: Cleidson R. B. de...; David Redmiles; Li-Te Cheng; David Millen; John Patterson
• Keywords: Personal software process

The principle of information hiding has been very influential in software engineering since its inception 1972. This prescribes that modules hide implementation details from other order to decrease their interdependencies. separation also decreases the dependency among developers implementing modules, thus simplifying some aspects collaboration. A common instantiation this is form application programming interfaces (APIs). We performed a qualitative study on how practitioners use APIs daily work. Although particularly interested collaboration, we report all findings about observed use. include mundane observations are predicted by theory, ways support collaborative development. But surprises, hinder surprises indicate directions for further improvement development practices and tools.