  Improved software discovery is a prerequisite for greater software reuse:
after all, if someone cannot find software for a particular task, they cannot
reuse it. Understanding people's approaches and preferences when they look for
software could help improve facilities for software discovery. We surveyed
people working in several scientific and engineering fields to better
understand their approaches and selection criteria. We found that even among
highly-trained people, the rudimentary approaches of relying on general Web
searches, the opinions of colleagues, and the literature were still the most
commonly used. However, those who were involved in software development
differed from nondevelopers in their use of social help sites, software project
repositories, software catalogs, and organization-specific mailing lists or
forums. For example, software developers in our sample were more likely to
search in community sites such as Stack Overflow even when seeking ready-to-run
software rather than source code, and likewise, asking colleagues was
significantly more important when looking for ready-to-run software. Our survey
also provides insight into the criteria that matter most to people when they
are searching for ready-to-run software. Finally, our survey also identifies
some factors that can prevent people from finding software.
