--- title: 'CHI paper: What would other programmers do: suggesting solutions to error messages' description: Abstract Interpreting compiler errors and exception messages is challenging for novice programmers. Presenting examples of how other programmers have corrected similar errors may help novices understand and correct such errors. This paper introduces HelpMeOut, a social recommender system that aids the debugging of error messages by sugges […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/chi-paper-what-would-other-programmers-do-suggesting-solutions-to-error-messages --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 22 April 2010 # CHI paper: What would other programmers do: suggesting solutions to error messages [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) [developers](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/developers) [Research](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/research) --- Share the article **Abstract** Interpreting compiler errors and exception messages is challenging for novice programmers. Presenting examples of how other programmers have corrected similar errors may help novices understand and correct such errors. This paper introduces HelpMeOut, a social recommender system that aids the debugging of error messages by suggesting solutions that peers have applied in the past. HelpMeOut comprises IDE instrumentation to collect examples of code changes that fix errors; a central database that stores fix reports from many users; and a suggestion interface that, given an error, queries the database for a list of relevant fixes and presents these to the programmer. We report on implementations of this architecture for two programming languages. An evaluation with novice programmers found that the technique can suggest useful fixes for 47% of errors after 39 person-hours of programming in an instrumented environment. **Authors** Björn Hartmann University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA Daniel MacDougall Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Joel Brandt Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Scott R. Klemmer Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA **Download pdf** [Help me out.](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CAkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhci.stanford.edu%2Fpublications%2F2010%2Fhelpmeout%2Fhartmann-chi10-helpmeout.pdf&ei=nhrQS-T2GoP8OdDN6e8N&usg=AFQjCNHt04muddzWirtmhw3rUMD4T4b5og&sig2=a7PFuyNIuir5DvxbJ6F4gQ) [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. In submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Notice](https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy/contact) and [Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### What designers should know about semiotics](https://canonical.com/blog/what-designers-should-know-about-semiotics) What happens when you look at an apple? When you see it, you perceive the apple and assign meaning to it based on your language, experience, and personal preferences – such as... [Sophie Carroll](https://canonical.com/blog/author/sophiecarroll) 15 October 2026 [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Template: Streamlining open source design contributions](https://canonical.com/blog/template-streamlining-open-source-design-contributions) As designers working at Canonical, we’re always thinking about open source. We believe that encouraging more designers to contribute to open source benefits everyone, from the... [Nina Rojc](https://canonical.com/blog/author/ninarojc) 16 June 2026 [### Decoding design: How design and engineering thrive together in open source](https://canonical.com/blog/decoding-design-how-design-and-engineering-thrive-together-in-open-source) Open source thrives on engineering-driven processes. Fast feedback loops, terminal tools, Git workflows: they’re the lifeblood of how we build software in the open. But for... [Miguel Divo](https://canonical.com/blog/author/mdivo) 22 May 2026