“I’m hacking it!”

 Imagine that you’re hacking away on a web app that uses the Wicket web framework. You want to know how to create a form so that the website can POST data. You have no idea how to do it. You go to the Wicket reference page and find a class called StatelessForm. In your web app you declare a StatelessForm with the “new” operator. But you keep getting the error “Cannot instantiate the instance” from your IDE.  You’re frustrated and decide to go on Facebook and poke some people. You see a invitation for iHacky and iHacky is saying “Meet cool new hackers”. You accept the invitation and is redirected to the iHacky homepage. You see a search field to search for dependencies. You type in “StatelessForm”, press enter and a list of iHacky users are shown. Miraculously iHacky indicates a few of them know about Wicket. You immediately compose a message to a single user asking for help about the StatelessForm class.  Two minutes later a response comes back and in the message body it says “You’re getting that error because you’ll need to override the onSubmit method for the Form.”  You thank the iHacky user and add him/her as a friend. //org.apache.wicket.markup.html.StatelessForm The goal of iHacky is to connect the developers’ community, allowing them to easily share expertise and contribute to the community.

 The evaluation will be a 7-day process.  The evaluation is divided into three sections.  First section: Gathering of data  Duration: 3 Days  Second section: Interface and Usability testing  Duration: 2 Days  Third section: System survey  Duration: 2 Days

 Data Gathering  Participants will receive a demo on how to install and use the system. They will learn the necessary steps required to send actual sensor data to the server. The demo will be given on the very beginning of the evaluation timeline.  After the demo, participants are required (at their best effort) to invoke the sensor on as many Java projects/programs as they have. This is done until the third day of evaluation.  Participants can continue this data sending process even after the third day.  Participants are allowed to share this system with their colleagues/friends/family.

 For evaluation purposes the intended audiences of this demonstration and evaluation are individuals with experience in the HackyStat system.  Things that are covered in the Demonstration (about 30 min.).  Overview of the iHacky system and its goals.  Where/How to get the Ant sensor with DependencyFinder.  How to configure Ant build files to use the sensor.  How to invoke the Ant build files to send data to the sensor.  How to sign-up for Facebook and add the iHacky application.  How to use iHacky’s package/class/library search feature.  How to communicate amongst the iHacky community.  Other features of iHacky (discussion, message box, profile).

 Interface and Usability testing  After the three day data gathering process, we’ll conduct a usability test on the interface.  Participants will need to have a working Facebook account and iHacky added at this point.  All participants will need to test (at their best effort) all the functions of the iHacky interface. This is a 2-day process that allows the participants to analyze the pros and cons of the interface.  Selected participants will be given a cognitive walkthrough scenario in the lab. iHacky developers will oversee and record the whole process of this walkthrough, then use the data to evaluate the interface.

 System survey  The system survey will consist of a list of questions in regards to overall system usability, likes and dislikes, and potential improvements that can be made  Sample questions:  Time spent on acquiring the system to sending actual data to the server. A) 5 hours  Is the time spent on the installation process appropriate for you? A) Yes B) No, state why?  Were the results from the iHacky class search relevant?  How long did you wait for an iHacky user to respond to your message?  Rate the user interface from 1 to 10, 10 being best.  Do you find the discussion board useful?  Would you refer iHacky to a friend?

 As a group:  Group Hour spent: 9 hours  Given Task: Modifying the DependencyFinder Ant sensor to work with the iHacky system. Create a field in the Coupling data that displays the classes used for a particular Java file in a project.  Result: Success  Hong  Hours spent: 12 hours  Given Task: Use iHacky to grab dependency data from sensor browser.  Result: Success  Jon  Hours spent: 8 hours  Given Task: mySQL database redesign to cope with new iHacky dependency feature and touch up on the iHacky messaging system.  Result: Success  Marcius  Hours spent: 5 hours  Given Task: Fix issue of the Project’s page so that Projects, Tools and Languages are displayed.  Result: Success

 Hong  Task: Split the current system so that Facebook (the interface) is separate from iHacky core. Implement search function with Dependency info.  Jon  Task: Add Cron-Job to the iHacky server so that it can routinely grab data from Hackystat server and parse it into the mySQL database. Design and add into database to implement the class rating/ranking feature.  Marcius  Task: Redesign and implement edit feature in the profile page allowing users to edit their hackystat usernames and passwords, dependency ranks, and dependency info.

 Pay rate: $50 per hour (corporate cost)  Total hours spent for entire group: 253 hours  Wage: $50 x 253 = $12,650  Server cost: 4 months x $5 = $20  Utilities (electric + internet): $240  Electronic depreciation (laptop): $450  Total: $13,360