Three Controlled Experiments in Software Engineering with the Two-Tier Programming Toolkit: Final Report

Abstract: Three controlled experiments testing the benefits that Java programmers gain from using the Two-Tier Programming Toolkit have recently been concluded. The first experiment offers statistically significant evidence (p-value: 0.02) that programmers who undertook only minimal (1-hour) training in using the current prototype exhibit 76% productivity gains in key tasks in software development and maintenance. The second experiment shows that the use of the TTP Toolkit is likely (p-value: 0.10) to almost triple the accuracy of programmers performing tasks associated with software quality. The third experiment shows that the TTP Toolkit does not offer significant productivity gains in performing very short (under 10 min.) tasks.