HelpMeOut

Interpreting compiler error messages and runtime exceptions is challenging for novice programmers. Presenting examples how other programmers have corrected similar errors may help novices understand and correct such errors. HelpMeOut is a crowdsourced recommender system that aids debugging by suggesting solutions that peers have applied in the past. HelpMeOut comprises IDE instrumentation to collect examples of code changes that fix compiler errors; a central database that stores fix reports from many users; and a suggestion interface that, given an error, queries the database and presents relevant fixes to the programmer.

The first poster of HelpMeOut was shown at NPUC 2009 at IBM Almaden; A second poster will be shown at UIST 2009 in Victoria, BC.