Codex: A metamodel ontology to guide the execution of coding experiments

Background: Experiments have been conducted in many domains of software engineering (SE). Objective: This paper presents a metamodel, the Codex metamodel, containing standard concepts found in any coding experiment. We classify coding experiments as any SE experiment where participants have to carry out coding activities (construct, test, debug, and forth). Method: The paper presents results of an exploratory study that proposes a metamodel for the domain of coding experiments. Besides, we present how our metamodel specifies a real coding experiment. Results: Our metamodel for coding experiments was modeled with few elements, and it can precisely describe all coding activities. Conclusions: Our metamodel facilitates the development of a tool to support executing a coding experiment.