Is mining software repositories data science? (keynote)

Abstract

Trick question: what is Data Science? The collection and use of low-veracity data in software repositories and other operational support systems is exploding. It is, therefore, imperative to elucidate basic principles of how such data comes into being and what it means. Are there practices of constructing software data analysis tools that could raise the integrity of their results despite the problematic nature of the underlying data? The talk explores the basic nature of data in operational support systems and considers approaches to develop engineering practices for software mining tools.