Chapter 23 - How the Web helps people turn ideas into code

This chapter investigates the role of online resources in building software. We look specifically at how programmers - an exemplar form of knowledge workers - opportunistically interleave Web foraging, learning, and writing code. To understand this, we have both studied how programmers work in the lab and analyzed Web search logs of programming resources. The lab provides rich, detailed information and context about how programmers work; online studies offer a naturalistic setting and the advantages of scale. We found that programmers engage in just-in-time learning of new skills and approaches, clarify and extend their existing knowledge, and remind themselves of details deemed not worth remembering. The results also suggest that queries for different purposes have different styles and durations. These results contribute to a theory of online resource usage in programming, and suggest opportunities for tools to facilitate online knowledge work.