The case for teaching “tool science” taking software engineering and software engineering education beyond the confinements of traditional software development contexts

Abstract

In this paper the need for tool science, a discipline dedicated to the problem of developing, selecting, adapting and teaching about software tools for research is discussed. Starting from a general description of this field a short overview on the state-of-the-art is given. Core problems for tools research are discussed and several open research issues are identified like the need for case studies in research tool usage or making economic benefits of better usability and user experience for research tools evident. In addition, aspects of teaching concepts for tool developers and users outside the core disciplines of computer science and software engineering are presented.