Research

My research is is in the areas of Software Engineering, Accessibilty, and Computer Science Education, broadly construed. While these are the areas, I spend much of my time thinking about a problem in computer science sometimes called 'the programming language wars.' At its core, this problem is related to the observation that many programming languages and their related artifacts (e.g., curricula, tools) vary in significant ways. While these variations are likely considered small by some, at the societal level, they have contributed to a significant fracturing in the way people invent, and learn how to invent, software. Below is a past the paywall 2-page summary sheet of what the community knows about the language wars, so far. Past that, is the usual list of scholarly publications, grants, and the like.

Summary page on the Language Wars

Academic Papers

  1. J.L. Tennison, S. Goswami, J.R. Hairston, P.M. Drews, D.W. Smith, N.A. Giudice, A. Stefik, & J.L. Gorlewicz (2024). Bridging the Gap of Graphical Information Accessibility in Education with Multimodal Touchscreens. Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 117(6). Link

  2. Richard E. Ladner, Brianna Blaser, Andreas Stefik, and Amy J. Ko. 2023. Disability in Computer Science Education. In Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (SIGCSE 2023). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1248. Link

  3. Timothy Kluthe, Brett A Becker, Christopher D Hundhausen, Ciera Jaspan, Andreas Stefik, Thomas Zimmermann, Toward Scientific Evidence Standards in Empirical Computer Science (Dagstuhl Seminar 22442), Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik Link

  4. Becker, Brett A. and Denny, Paul and Siegmund, Janet and Stefik, Andreas and Santos, Eddie Antonio The Human Factors Impact of Programming Error Messages (Dagstuhl Seminar 22052), Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum fur Informatik Link

  5. Timothy Spuck, Daniel Reichart, Josh Haislip, Jim Hammerman, Kathleen Gustavson, Tyler Linder, Kate Meredith, Yasmin Catricheo, Bret Feranchak, Santiago Gasca, Eric Hochberg, Andreas Stefik, Making Image Analysis Accessible to the Blind: IDATA and the Afterglow Access Software, American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts, 54 (6). Link

  6. Daniel D. Garcia, Michael P. Rogers, and Andreas Stefik. 2021. Fun and Engaging Pre-CS1 Programming Languages. In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 760-761. Link

  7. Andrea Danyluk, Paul Leidig, Andrew McGettrick, Lillian Cassel, Maureen Doyle, Christian Servin, Karl Schmitt, and Andreas Stefik. 2021. Computing Competencies for Undergraduate Data Science Programs: an ACM Task Force Final Report. In Proceedings of the 52nd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1119-1120. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3408877.3432586 Link

  8. P. Merlin Uesbeck, Cole S. Peterson, Bonita Sharif, and Andreas Stefik. 2020. A randomized controlled trial on the effects of embedded computer language switching. Proceedings of the 28th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 410-420. Link

  9. Patrick Daleiden, Andreas Stefik, P. Merlin Uesbeck, and Jan Pedersen. 2020. Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Student Performance in Parallel Programming using a New Measurement Technique. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 20, 3, Article 21 (September 2020), 28 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3401892 Link

  10. Patrick Daleiden, Andreas Stefik, and Philip Merlin Uesbeck. 2020. GPU Programming Productivity in Different Abstraction Paradigms: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing CUDA and Thrust. ACM Trans. Comput. Educ. 20, 4, Article 27 (November 2020), 27 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3418301 Link

  11. (Abstract) Richard E. Ladner, Andreas Stefik, Amy J. Ko, and Brianna Blaser. 2020. Access to Computing Education for Students with Disabilities. In Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE 2020). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1403. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3328778.3372514
  12. (Abstract) Spuck, T.; Hammerman, J.; Meredith, K.; Reichart, D.; Stefik, A.; Catricheo, Y.; Gasca, S.; Grossi, A.; Gustavson, K.; Haislip, J.; Hochberg, E.; Linder, T.; Feranchak, B. Research Supporting Multisensory Engagement by BVI and Sighted Students to Advance Integrated Learning of Astronomy and Computer Science. American Astronomical Society meeting #235, id. 135.04. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 52, No. 1, 2020
  13. R. E. Ladner, A. Stefik, J. Naumann and E. Peach, 'Computer Science Principles for Teachers of Deaf Students,' 2020 Research on Equity and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT), Portland, OR, 2020, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/RESPECT49803.2020.9272432.
  14. Jennifer L. Tennison, P. Merlin Uesbeck, Nicholas A. Giudice, Andreas Stefik, Derrick W. Smith, and Jenna L. Gorlewicz. 2020. Establishing Vibration-Based Tactile Line Profiles for Use in Multimodal Graphics. ACM Trans. Appl. Percept. 17, 2, Article 7 (May 2020), 14 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3383457 Link

  15. Jenna L. Gorlewicz, Jennifer L. Tennison, P. Merlin Uesbeck, Margaret E. Richard, Hari P. Palani, Andreas Stefik, Derrick W. Smith, and Nicholas A. Giudice. 2020. Design Guidelines and Recommendations for Multimodal, Touchscreen-based Graphics. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 13, 3, Article 10 (August 2020), 30 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3403933 Link

  16. Timothy Rafalski, P. Merlin Uesbeck, Cristina Panks-Meloney, Patrick Daleiden, William Allee, Amelia Mcnamara, and Andreas Stefik. 2019. A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Wild Wild West of Scientific Computing with Student Learners. In Proceedings of the 2019 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER '19). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 239-247. Link

  17. (Best Paper Award) Computer Science Principles for Teachers of Blind and Visually Impaired Students, Andreas Stefik, Richard Ladner, William Allee, Sean Mealin. SIGCSE 2019 Link

  18. Uesbeck, M., Stefik A.M. A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Impact of Polyglot Programming in a Database Context. 9th Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools (PLATEAU 2018). Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, Volume 67, 2019. Link

  19. Evidence About Programmers for Programming Language Design (Dagstuhl Seminar 18061). Dagstuhl Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 2 ISSN 2192-5283 Andreas Stefik, Bonita Sharif, Brad. A. Myers, Stefan Hanenberg, Schloss Dagstuhl--Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, 2018. Available at http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2018/9288 Link

  20. In Defense of Programming Language Research (Author response) A Stefik, S Hanenberg COMPUTER 51 (4), 6-7, 2018
  21. Evidence About Programmers for Programming Language Design (Dagstuhl Seminar 18061) A Stefik, B Sharif, B Myers, S Hanenberg Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, 2018
  22. Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Methodological Irregularities in ProgrammingLanguage Research. IEEE Computer, 2017 Link

  23. Richard E. Ladner, Andreas Stefik, AccessCSforall: making computer science accessible to K-12 students in the United States. ACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing, 2017 Link

  24. Richard E. Ladner, Andreas Stefik, Daniela Marghitu, Access to Computing Education for Students with Disabilities (Abstract Only) March 2017 SIGCSE '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Link

  25. Andreas Stefik, Richard Ladner, The Quorum Programming Language (Abstract Only) March 2017 SIGCSE '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education Link

  26. Phillip Merlin Uesbeck, Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Jan Pedersen, and Patrick Daleiden. 2016. An empirical study on the impact of C++ lambdas and programmer experience. In Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 760-771. Link

  27. Brad A. Myers, Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Margaret Burnett, Franklyn Turbak, and Philip Wadler. 2016. Usability of Programming Languages: Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting at CHI 2016. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1104-1107. Link

  28. Amber Wagner, Jeff Gray, Daniela Marghitu, and Andreas Stefik. 2016. Raising the Awareness of Accessibility Needs in Block Languages (Abstract Only). In Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education (SIGCSE '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 497-497. Link

  29. Richard E. Ladner, Brianna Blaser, Andreas Stefik, and Daniela Marghitu. 2016. Universal Access to Computing Education (Abstract Only). In Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education (SIGCSE '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 701-701. Link

  30. Stefan Hanenberg and Andreas Stefik. 2015. On the need to define community agreements for controlled experiments with human subjects: a discussion paper. In Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools (PLATEAU 2015). A CM, New York, NY, USA, 61-67 Link

  31. Igor Crk, Timothy Kluthe, and Andreas Stefik. 2015. Understanding Programming Expertise: An Empirical Study of Phasic Brain Wave Changes. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 23, 1, Article 2 (December 2015), 29 pages. Link

  32. Design Principles for Visual Displays. Antonio Gutierrez, Gregory Schraw, Andreas Stefik. Use of Visual Displays in Research and Testing: Coding, Interpreting, and Reporting Data. Edited by Matthew McCrudden, Gregory Schraw ,Chad Buckendahl. Information Age Publishing, Inc. Charlotte, NC. 2015. (Book Chapter)
  33. Comparing Development Approaches and Reuse Strategies: An Empirical Evaluation of Developer Views from the Aerospace Industry. Julia Varnell-Sarjeant, Anneliese Amschler Andrews, Joe Lucente, Andreas Stefik. Information and Software Technology. 2015.
  34. Andreas Stefik and Stefan Hanenberg. 2014. The Programming Language Wars: Questions and Responsibilities for the Programming Language Community. In Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming & Software (Onward! 2014). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 283-299. Link

  35. J. B. Pedersen, A. Stefik. Towards Millions of Processes on the JVM, Proceedings of Communicating Process Architectures (CPA'14), Oxford, United Kingdom, August, 2014. Link

  36. Julia Varnell-Sarjeant, Anneliese Andrews and Andreas Stefik. Comparing Reuse Strategies: An Empirical Evaluation of Developer Views. IEEE 38th Annual International Computers, Software & Applications Conference. (COMPSAC 2014). Vasteras, Sweden.
  37. Andreas Stefik, Stefan Hanenberg, Mark McKenney, Anneliese Andrews, Srinivas Kalyan Yellanki, and Susanna Siebert. 2014. What is the foundation of evidence of human factors decisions in language design? an empirical study on programming language workshops. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC 2014). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 223-231. Link

  38. Stefan Endrikat, Stefan Hanenberg, Romain Robbes, and Andreas Stefik. 2014. How do API documentation and static typing affect API usability?. In Proceedings of the 36th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2014). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 632-642. Link

  39. Stefan Hanenberg, Sebastian Kleinschmager, Romain Robbes, Éric Tanter, Andreas Stefik. An empirical study on the impact of static typing on software maintainability. Empirical Software Engineering. 2013. Link

  40. Andreas Stefik and Susanna Siebert. 2013. An Empirical Investigation into Programming Language Syntax. ACM Transactions on Computing Education 13, 4, Article 19 (November 2013), 40 pages. Link

  41. Per Runeson, Andreas Stefik & Anneliese Andrews. Variation factors in the design and analysis of replicated controlled experiments. Empirical Software Engineering. 2013. Link

  42. Clemens Mayer, Stefan Hanenberg, Romain Robbes, Éric Tanter, and Andreas Stefik. 2012. An empirical study of the influence of static type systems on the usability of undocumented software. SIGPLAN Not. 47, 10 (October 2012), 683-702. Link

  43. Sebastian Kleinschmager, Stefan Hanenberg, Romain Robbes, Éric Tanter, and Andreas Stefik, Do static type systems improve the maintainability of software systems? An empirical study, Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2012 IEEE 20th International Conference on, pp.153-162, 11-13 June 2012.
  44. Andreas Stefik, Susanna Siebert, Melissa Stefik, Kim Slattery. An Empirical Comparison of the Accuracy Rates of Novices using the Quorum, Perl, and Randomo Programming Languages. Workshop on the Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools (PLATEAU 2011). Portland, OR, October 24th, 2011. Link

  45. Per Runeson, Andreas Stefik, Anneliese Andrews, Sam Gronblom, Ivan Porres, and Susanna Siebert. A Comparative Analysis of Three Replicated Experiments Comparing Inspection and Unit Testing. The 2nd International Workshop on Replication in Empirical Software Engineering Research. Banff, Alberta, C anada, September 21st, 2011.
  46. Andreas Stefik, Susanna Siebert, Kim Slattery, Melissa Stefik. Toward Intuitive Programming Languages. IEEE 19th International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2011, pp.213-214, 22-24 June 2011.
  47. A. Stefik, C. Hundhausen, R. Patterson. An Empirical Investigation into the Design of Auditory Cues to Enhance Computer Program Comprehension. The International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 69 (2011) 820-838.
  48. A. Stefik, K.Slattery, S. Siebert. Speaking in Code. Video in the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, 2011. Link

  49. A. Stefik, C. Hundhausen, D. Smith. On the Design of an Educational Infrastructure for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Computer Science. Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education, 2011. Link

  50. A. Stefik and E. Gellenbeck. Empirical studies on programming language stimuli. Software Quality Journal, 19(1):65-99, 2011. 10.1007/s11219-010-9106-7. Link

  51. Roger T. Alexander, Jeff Offutt, Andreas Stefik: Testing coupling relationships in object-oriented programs. Software Testing, Verification and Reliability Volume 20 (4) pp. 291-327, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, December 2010.
  52. E. Gellenbeck and A. Stefik. Evaluating prosodic cues as a means to disambiguate algebraic expressions: an empirical study. In Assets ’09: Proceedings of the 11th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility, pages 139-146, New York, NY, USA, 2009. ACM. Link

  53. Patterson, R., Tripp, L., Rogers, J., Boydstun, A., and Stefik, A. Modeling the simulated real-world optic flow motion aftereffect, 2009. Journal of the Optical Society of America A 26, 1202-1211 (2009).
  54. Stefik, A., Gellenbeck, E., 2009. Using Spoken Text to Aid Debugging: An Empirical Study. In Proceedings of the 17th international Conference on Program Comprehension (Icpc 09) (May 17 - 19, 2009). IEEE Computer Society, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
  55. Stefik, A., Haywood, A., Mansoor, S., Dunda, B., and Garcia, D., 2009. SODBeans. In Proceedings of the 17th international Conference on Program Comprehension (Icpc 09) (May 17 - 19, 2009). IEEE Computer Society, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
  56. Patterson, R., Rogers, J., Boydstun, A., Tripp, L., and Stefik, A. System dynamics modeling of the optic flow motion aftereffect. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL., May 13, 2008.
  57. Stefik, A., Alexander, R., Patterson, R. and Brown, J. 2007. WAD: A Feasibility study using the Wicked Audio Debugger. In Proceedings of the 15th IEEE international Conference on Program Comprehension (Icpc'07) (June 26 - 29, 2007).IEEE Computer Society, Banff, Canada.
  58. Andreas Stefik, Melissa Stefik, Mark Curtiss : Ammmp: An Automatic Translation System for Musical Languages. Computer Music Journal, 31(4), 2007.
  59. Andreas Stefik, Kelly Fitz, Roger Alexander: Increasing Fault Detection Effectiveness Using Layered Program Auralization. Software Engineering Research and Practice, 2006: 959-965
  60. Stefik, A., Fitz, K., and Alexander, R. 2006. Layered Program Auralization: Using Music to Increase Runtime Program Comprehension and Debugging Effectiveness. In Proceedings of the 14th international Conference on Program Comprehension (Icpc 06) (June 14 - 16, 2006). IEEE Computer Society, Athens, Greece, 89-93.
  61. Andrews, A. A., Stefik, A., Picone, N., and Ghosh, S. 2005. A COTS Component Compre- hension Process. In Proceedings of the 13th international Workshop on Program Comprehension (Icpc 05)(May 15 - 16, 2005). IWPC. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, 135-144.