For a programmer, finding a weak link in software is rarely a quick fix. Detecting a bug in written code can be time-consuming and frustrating – like going on a map-less search through millions of lines of code in thousands of sources. But with the help of Smart Eye Pro, Dr. Bonita Sharif at the University of Nebraska seeks to understand how developers work in realistic settings to eventually help find a way to guide programmers through the code jungle.

“Smart Eye Pro was the only system that offered the precision we needed. If I had known about Smart Eye Pro earlier, I would have bought it instead of the many other eye trackers we have purchased in the past.”

— Bonita Sharif, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln

How Eye Tracking Leads the Way to Better Coding

Bonita Sharif, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska USA.

For Sharif, eye tracking technology has been a game-changer when teaching software development to her students. By analyzing the gaze of software developers as they work, she is able to develop tools that help them write code better and faster. Likewise, she has found that beginners who are allowed to study the eye movements of expert programmers learn how to search through code and tackle problems in a quicker, more efficient way.

But in order for Bonita Sharif to develop the tools that help trainBut in order for Bonita Sharif to develop the tools that help train tomorrow’s programmers, she needed a state-of-the-art eye tracking system, capable of delivering highly accurate results while being non-obtrusive.

“Smart Eye Pro was the only system that offered the multi-screen layout tracking and precision we needed, without requiring our participants to wear any headgear,” says Sharif.

Flexibility and Precision in Multi-Screen Studies

Sharif uses Smart Eye Pro for multi-screen studies, in which participants are analyzed while reading source code, Stack Overflow posts, websites, and bug reports online. And thanks to its unique ability to track objects in real-life settings without requiring headgear, Sharif recommends Smart Eye Pro for a number of multi-monitor and reading studies that utilize eye tracking.

“If I had known about Smart Eye Pro before, I would have bought it over the many other eye trackers we have purchased in the past. We especially benefit from how customizable it is and how it lets us choose what objects we want to focus on within the test environment,” says Sharif. She also explains how she was impressed with the system’s ability to provide comprehensive data on when test participants blinked – something she claims many other systems lack: “Blinks are not easy to detect, but Smart Eye Pro did an excellent job. With Smart Eye Pro, we received more raw data than we’ve gotten from other systems we’ve tried.”

Complex Technology for Better Results

When she first decided to try out Smart Eye Pro, Sharif had already been using eye tracking technology in her research for a while. Even so, she found Smart Eye Pro to be an unusually advanced system. And after an initial learning period, she came to appreciate the comprehensiveness of the available data.

“The system provided broader capabilities and gave us the flexibility to collect data in real-world settings. And the whole time, the support offered by the Smart Eye technical team for training and installation was excellent. They were knowledgeable and very responsive. I would give Smart Eye 11/10 for the support they have provided after the sale,” says Bonita Sharif.