The impact of prior knowledge on searching in software documentation
Klaas Andries de Graaf, Peng Liang, Antony Tang, Hans J. van der Vliet · 2014
Software documents are used to capture and communicate knowledge in software projects. It is important that this knowledge can be retrieved efficiently and effectively, to prevent wasted time and errors that negatively affect the quality of software. In this paper we investigate how software professionals search for knowledge in documentation. We studied the search behaviour of professionals in industry. Prior knowledge helps professionals to search software documents efficiently and effectively. However, it can also misguide professionals to an incomplete search.