Information and Computing Sciences Colloquium

SearchSECO: A Self-Sustaining Code Search Engine for the Worldwide Software Ecosystem

Slinger Jansen

Date: 16:00 – 16:30, Thursday, 04.02.2021
Location: Gather Town

Title: SearchSECO: A Self-Sustaining Code Search Engine for the Worldwide Software Ecosystem
Abstract: Empirical software engineering research is a data-intensive domain, with a focus on source code. There are many ways to search for code in the worldwide software ecosystem, but these search methods are inefficient, at a coarse level of granularity, and only cover small parts of the software ecosystem. I propose SearchSECO, a hash based distributed ledger for code fragments that enables searching source code at the method level in the worldwide software ecosystem. With SearchSECO, the field is advanced because it (1) provides finer grained and more efficient searches, (2) covers more of the software ecosystem than other search mechanisms, and (3) introduces an incentive mechanism for empirical software engineering researchers to maintain and contribute to the ledger as they use it.

In this presentation I take you through the advances in the domain of software ecosystems, the role of SearchSECO in the ecosystem, and the mechanisms that can make SearchSECO self-sustaining.