---
_id: '32410'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "Static analysis tools support developers in detecting potential coding issues,
    such as bugs or vulnerabilities. Research on static analysis emphasizes its technical
    challenges but also mentions severe usability shortcomings. These shortcomings
    hinder the adoption of static analysis tools, and in some cases, user dissatisfaction
    even leads to tool abandonment.\r\nTo comprehensively assess the current state
    of the art, this paper presents the first systematic usability evaluation in a
    wide range of static analysis tools. We derived a set of 36 relevant criteria
    from the scientific literature and gathered a collection of 46 static analysis
    tools complying with our inclusion and exclusion criteria - a representative set
    of mainly non-proprietary tools. Then, we evaluated how well these tools fulfill
    the aforementioned criteria.\r\nThe evaluation shows that more than half of the
    considered tools offer poor warning messages, while about three-quarters of the
    tools provide hardly any fix support. Furthermore, the integration of user knowledge
    is strongly neglected, which could be used for improved handling of false positives
    and tuning the results for the corresponding developer. Finally, issues regarding
    workflow integration and specialized user interfaces are proved further.\r\nThese
    findings should prove useful in guiding and focusing further research and development
    in the area of user experience for static code analyses."
author:
- first_name: Marcus
  full_name: Nachtigall, Marcus
  id: '41213'
  last_name: Nachtigall
- first_name: Michael
  full_name: Schlichtig, Michael
  id: '32312'
  last_name: Schlichtig
  orcid: 0000-0001-6600-6171
- first_name: Eric
  full_name: Bodden, Eric
  id: '59256'
  last_name: Bodden
  orcid: 0000-0003-3470-3647
citation:
  ama: 'Nachtigall M, Schlichtig M, Bodden E. A Large-Scale Study of Usability Criteria
    Addressed by Static Analysis Tools. In: <i>Proceedings of the 31st ACM SIGSOFT
    International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis</i>. ACM; 2022:532-543.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">10.1145/3533767</a>'
  apa: Nachtigall, M., Schlichtig, M., &#38; Bodden, E. (2022). A Large-Scale Study
    of Usability Criteria Addressed by Static Analysis Tools. <i>Proceedings of the
    31st ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis</i>,
    532–543. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767</a>
  bibtex: '@inproceedings{Nachtigall_Schlichtig_Bodden_2022, title={A Large-Scale
    Study of Usability Criteria Addressed by Static Analysis Tools}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">10.1145/3533767</a>},
    booktitle={Proceedings of the 31st ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software
    Testing and Analysis}, publisher={ACM}, author={Nachtigall, Marcus and Schlichtig,
    Michael and Bodden, Eric}, year={2022}, pages={532–543} }'
  chicago: Nachtigall, Marcus, Michael Schlichtig, and Eric Bodden. “A Large-Scale
    Study of Usability Criteria Addressed by Static Analysis Tools.” In <i>Proceedings
    of the 31st ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis</i>,
    532–43. ACM, 2022. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767</a>.
  ieee: 'M. Nachtigall, M. Schlichtig, and E. Bodden, “A Large-Scale Study of Usability
    Criteria Addressed by Static Analysis Tools,” in <i>Proceedings of the 31st ACM
    SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis</i>, 2022, pp.
    532–543, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">10.1145/3533767</a>.'
  mla: Nachtigall, Marcus, et al. “A Large-Scale Study of Usability Criteria Addressed
    by Static Analysis Tools.” <i>Proceedings of the 31st ACM SIGSOFT International
    Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis</i>, ACM, 2022, pp. 532–43, doi:<a
    href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3533767">10.1145/3533767</a>.
  short: 'M. Nachtigall, M. Schlichtig, E. Bodden, in: Proceedings of the 31st ACM
    SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis, ACM, 2022, pp.
    532–543.'
date_created: 2022-07-25T08:02:36Z
date_updated: 2022-07-26T11:42:23Z
department:
- _id: '76'
doi: 10.1145/3533767
keyword:
- Automated static analysis
- Software usability
language:
- iso: eng
page: 532 - 543
publication: Proceedings of the 31st ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Software
  Testing and Analysis
publication_identifier:
  isbn:
  - '9781450393799'
publication_status: published
publisher: ACM
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - relation: confirmation
    url: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3533767.3534374
status: public
title: A Large-Scale Study of Usability Criteria Addressed by Static Analysis Tools
type: conference
user_id: '32312'
year: '2022'
...