Sentiment in software engineering: detection and application

Abstract

In software engineering the role of human aspects is an important one, especially as developers indicate that they experience a wide range of emotions while developing software. Within software engineering researchers have sought to understand the role emotions and sentiment play in the development of software by studying issues, pull-requests and commit messages. To detect sentiment, automated tools are used, and in this doctoral thesis we plan to study the use of these sentiment analysis tools, their applications, best practices for their usage and the effect of non-natural language on their performance. In addition to studying the application of sentiment analysis tools, we also aim to study self-admitted technical debt and bots in software engineering, to understand why developers express sentiment and what they signal when they express sentiment. Through studying both the application of sentiment analysis tools and the role of sentiment in software engineering, we hope to provide practical recommendations for both researchers and developers.