The meager validation of live programming
Johan Fabry · 2019
A key argument in favor of live programming languages and environments is that a better programming experience is achieved through maximizing feedback to the programmer. Intuitively, this is a compelling argument, but looking at validations of live programming languages and environments, the results are not encouraging at all. This essay concerns the question whether it is possible to validate that live programming is faster, or more correct, or that programmers have a better development experience. I provide a critical review of validations of live programming and talk about my own experience with such a user study. The goal of this text is to contrast the intuition with the scientific validation, such that we, as a community, can ask ourselves the question of whether we can validate the arguments in favor of live programming, and if so, how.