Costa Neto, AlvaroPereira, Maria JoãoHenriques, Pedro Rangel2026-03-182026-03-182025Costa Neto, Alvaro; Pereira, Maria João; Henriques, Pedro Rangel (2025). Programming Cocktail Analysis Based on the Cognitive Load Theory, a First Approach. In Topical Area: Software, System and Service Engineering, S3E 2024, Held as Part of FedCSIS 2024, and 25th Conference on Practical Aspects of and Solutions for Software Engineering, KKIO 2024, held as part of SEAA 2024. Cham:Springer Nature. p. 135-164. ISSN 1865-1348. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-84913-8_61865-1348http://hdl.handle.net/10198/36133The daily activities of those involved in software development are inherently related to the technologies they use. Languages, libraries, frameworks, and tools tend to accumulate as projects evolve and change, effectively forming Programming Cocktails. Unfortunately, the burden of learning, using, and managing these technologies also tends to closely follow this growth, spawning a myriad of concepts that need to be handled concurrently. This complexity usually requires several factors to be analysed, in order to limit its negative effects. These factors range from security risks to costs and cognitive load, just to mention a few. This paper presents an ontology-based modelling framework that can be used to create an overview of Programming Cocktails. The instantiation of this ontology results in Cocktail Identity Cards, which can then be augmented with one or more of the previously mentioned factors. Finally, the paper also presents a first approach to the cognitive load analysis of Programming Cocktails, based on John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory.engProgramming cocktailsCognitive load theoryTech stackProgramming technologiesDevelopment complexityconference paper10.1007/978-3-031-84913-8_6