Heuristic Evaluation Checklist for Domain-specific Languages

Ildevana Poltronieri, Avelino Francisco Zorzo, Maicon Bernardino, Bruno Medeiros, Marcia de Borba Campos

2021

Abstract

Usability evaluation of a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) is not a simple task, since DSL designers effort might not be viable in a project context. Hence, we ease DSL designers work by providing a fast and simple way to evaluate their languages and, therefore, reduce effort (spend time) when a new DSL is developed. In order to do that, this paper presents a structured way to build a Heuristic Evaluation Checklist (HEC) for DSLs. This checklist is different from traditional checklists since it is focused on DSL. Once a checklist is provided, the evaluators only follow a set of heuristics and freely point out the found errors when using the DSL. Basically, the produced checklist provides a set of questions, based on the heuristics that direct an evaluation for a specific domain. In order to show how our proposal can be applied to a DSL and to provide an initial evaluation of our HEC, this paper shows also an instance to evaluate graphical and textual DSLs. Furthermore, this paper also discusses the qualitative analysis of an initial evaluation for the proposed HEC through seven interviews with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts. Finally, a brief example of use applying the developed checklist is presented.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Poltronieri I., Zorzo A., Bernardino M., Medeiros B. and Campos M. (2021). Heuristic Evaluation Checklist for Domain-specific Languages. In Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2021) - Volume 2: HUCAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-488-6, SciTePress, pages 37-48. DOI: 10.5220/0010239400370048

in Bibtex Style

@conference{hucapp21,
author={Ildevana Poltronieri and Avelino Francisco Zorzo and Maicon Bernardino and Bruno Medeiros and Marcia de Borba Campos},
title={Heuristic Evaluation Checklist for Domain-specific Languages},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2021) - Volume 2: HUCAPP},
year={2021},
pages={37-48},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0010239400370048},
isbn={978-989-758-488-6},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 16th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (VISIGRAPP 2021) - Volume 2: HUCAPP
TI - Heuristic Evaluation Checklist for Domain-specific Languages
SN - 978-989-758-488-6
AU - Poltronieri I.
AU - Zorzo A.
AU - Bernardino M.
AU - Medeiros B.
AU - Campos M.
PY - 2021
SP - 37
EP - 48
DO - 10.5220/0010239400370048
PB - SciTePress