MobiCloud Survey

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FAQ

What is this all about ?

This is a survey to evaluate the usability of a Language.Take a look at the details section for more information.

What would you get?

All participants will get an Amazon.com gift card. We will select a winner at the end of the survey by a raffle to give away the iPod touch !

What do you have to do?

Follow one of our tutorials and create at least one program by yourself using our MobiCloud language and tools. Then let us know about your experience and what we can do to improve the language. We don’t want any of your personal details, just your previous programming experience and what you thought of the experience in creating an application using our tools.

Is this only for wiz kids ?

Nope. We welcome all levels of experience. If you know your way around the computer then you are good. However some programming experience (such as from a basic programming course) would be very helpful.

Details

Purpose of This Survey

This research aims to understand the user perception on a new programming language. Although the some characteristics of a programming language can be measured objectively, there are subjective measures that ultimately decide the success and adoption of a given programming language.

Background

MobiCloud is a research project that defines a new language for Cloud-mobile hybrid applications. These applications have a part running on a Cloud (a set of remote computers that can be used on a pay-per-use basis) and another part on a mobile device (smart phone). This project and related research has been published on multiple, well established conferences. However the MobiCloud language has not been submitted to a subjective, user based evaluation. Usability is an important factor in programming languages and usually a key consideration when used in software development. Software developers have varying opinions on programming languages based on their experience, exposure to other programming languages and other reasons.

Procedure

  • Signup (via the Web signup form at [1])
  • Participants are asked several questions to determine their programming proficiency.
  • The participants are given a short tutorial on how to use the language and the related tools. This tutorial may be face to face or done via video (1 to 2 hours)
  • Participants are asked to create at least one non-trivial application within 4 days. The time commitment for each day is roughly about an hour.
  • They are asked two sets of questions
    • Questions of experience and usability.
    • Questions on future enhancements
  • Note that these details are collected with no identifiable personal information, i.e. just like a course evaluation form you don't have to provide us any personal data, not even your name, in this evaluation.

Risks

None.

Potential benefits

This study will provide a clear understanding on the usability of the MobiCloud programming language in multiple perspectives, especially in a novice programmers perspective.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

None. Some experience in programming would be helpful but its not a must.

Enrollment

We are working on a Web signup system, we'll post it as soon as we are done.