Large-Scale Microtask Programming

TL;DR

This paper introduces a behavior-driven microtask programming approach and a system for building microservices via microtasks, enabling isolated development, automated task management, and deployment.

Contribution

It presents a novel behavior-driven microtask programming methodology and a web-based system for creating, managing, and deploying microservices through microtasks.

Findings

Effective in reducing conflicts among contributors

Automates microservice creation and deployment

Supports isolated function development

Abstract

To make microtask programming more efficient and reduce the potential for conflicts between contributors, I developed a new behavior-driven approach to microtasking programming. In our approach, each microtask asks developers to identify a behavior behavior from a high-level description of a function, implement a unit test for it, implement the behavior, and debug it. It enables developers to work on functions in isolation through high-level function descriptions and stubs. In addition, I developed the first approach for building microservices through microtasks. Building microservices through microtasks is a good match because our approach requires a client to first specify the functionality the crowd will create through an API. This API can then take the form of a microservice description. A traditional project may ask a crowd to implement a new microservice by simply describing the desired behavior in a API and recruiting a crowd. We implemented our approach in a web-based IDE, \textit{Crowd Microservices}. It includes an editor for clients to describe the system requirements through endpoint descriptions as well as a web-based programming environment where crowd workers can identify, test, implement, and debug behaviors. The system automatically creates, manages, assigns microtasks. After the crowd finishes, the system automatically deploys the microservice to a hosting site.