** This is the 2nd version of the challenge featuring an expanded dataset**

# Decluttering Challenge (DeClutter)

In the scope of [DocGen2, the Second Software Documentation Generation Challenge](https://dysdoc.github.io/docgen2/index.html), hosted by [ICSME 2020](https://icsme2020.github.io/index.html).

### Task Description
The goal of the DeClutter challenge is to build an automated tool that can identify unnecessary software  documentation at the class or file level. For example, a comment saying ```//loop from 1 to N``` just before code implementing 
exactly that is not helpful, and worse, could drift when the underlying code is changed to (N-1) (for example). As such, it is considered as non-informative and labeled as "Non-information = Yes". 

The tool should take in a CSV file and output a label for each row as either "Non-information = Yes" for clutter, non-informative comments and "Non-information = No" for non-clutter ones.

### Definition of Non-information
In this study, we label as *Non-information* the comments that contain only non-information sentences. As such, the final criterion for annotation of non-information is defined as follows:
“non-information is a comment that is completely uninformative and hence useless/should be removed (in the perspective of documentation decluttering)”. 

Our definition grounds on the [CADO](https://cado.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/coding-guide/) guidelines for Content Analysis for Software Documentation, which defines as non-information "any complete sentence or self-contained fragment of text that provides only uninformative boilerplate text". Among examples, simply restating the name of the API element without adding any detail, or stating the obvious, or simply restating the information in the rest of the code block" [(Maleej and Robillard, TSE 2013)](https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2554417). 

Our annotation unit is the entire comment. Consistently with the CADO guidelines, if a comment contains both uninformative and informative sentences, we consider that the uninformative part of the sentence is only context for the informative part, and we rate the comment as 'Non-information = No' (i.e., the comment is informative). 

### How to Participate
We invite the potential participants to register using the [web form](https://forms.gle/jkGKF44Roc51L6ZT6). **Registration is compulsory to participate in the challenge, although it is not binding**. To qualify for inclusion [in the workshop proceedings](https://dysdoc.github.io/docgen2/index.html), participants must prepare a 4 page report describing their approach and lessons learned. Otherwise, we will merely present the leaderboard. 

### Important Dates
Timeline for the DeClutter Challenge
* **20th May 2020:** Test data available
* 28th July 2020: Kaggle competition closes
* 31st July 2020: Report submission deadline 
* 14th August 2020: Notification deadline
* 28th August 2020: Camera-ready deadline (tentative)
* September 2020: Workshop dates, subject to change given pandemic.

### Challenge Chairs
- [Nicole Novielli](http://collab.di.uniba.it/nicole/), University of Bari, Italy
- [Neil Ernst](http://www.neilernst.net/), University of Victoria, Canada

### Contacts
If you have any questions, please contact the challenge chairs.
[](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
The challenge dataset is licensed under a
[Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
.

### References
If you have any questions, please contact the challenge chairs.