What network simulator questions do users ask? A large-scale study of stack overflow posts

Abstract

The use of network simulator as a modern tool in analyzing and predicting the behaviour of computer networks has grown to reduce the complexity of its accuracy measurement. This attracts researchers and practitioners to share problems and discuss them to improve the features. To communicate the related issues, users move to online question-answering platforms. Although recent studies have shown the popularity and benefits of adopting network simulation tools, the challenges users face in using the network simulator remain unknown. In this research paper, we examine 2,322 network simulator related stack overflow question posts to gain insights into the topics and challenges that users have discussed. We adopt the latent dirichlet allocation model to understand the topics discussed in stack overflow. We then investigate the popularity and difficulty of each topic. The results show that users use stack overflow as an implementation guideline for the network simulation model. We determine 8 discussion topics that are merged into 5 major categories. Simulation model configuration is the most useful topic for users. We also observe that target network protocol modification and network simulator installation are the most popular topics. Network simulator installation and target network protocol modification issues have been challenging for most users. The findings also highlight future research that suggests ways to help the network simulator community in the early stages to overcome the popular and difficult topics faced when using network simulation tools.