Matthew van Cittert Supervisor: Prof. Shaun Bangay A second look at the “glorified text-editor”

The Problem  New features but old, unchanging design  Large projects become difficult to manage Netbeans DelphiVisual StudioCodeBlocks

Other approaches  Focus on method implementation Visual Studio Class Diagrams Tinkertoy - LISP MapZone - Graphics

A New Approach  Average program – bunch of classes  Organised as trees  Lots of them  A new representation Options Minimap Interface

Demo OptionsMinimap Interface – Scrolling window

Solving the Problem  Zoom Overview  Minimap, scrollmap Get around quickly Spatial awareness

Solving the Problem 2  Text windows Separate code and comments Edit methods side by side  Single workspace Avoid digging through files  Code tour Interactive animated documentation

Making it go - Parser  Five Tools Base: Match a string Base: Match from a set of characters Repeat: Match scanner a given number of times List: Match all scanners in a serial list Option: Match one scanner from a list of scanners  Callbacks pre- and post-processing what to do when a match is found

Intermediate format  Classes to describe code  Filled out by parser callbacks  Converters can render these back as text  Other unimplemented ideas Use a database or ontology Query code (SQL or a reasoner)

Interface  Series of components Plug into one another Zooming Scrolling Moving Resizing  Layout manager to arrange classes  Trees with GUI frontends.

Evaluation  Comparison Project interface Traditional IDEs  Methods of comparison User study Cognitive walkthrough Predictive evaluation Heuristic evaluation

Predictive Evaluation  Can tasks be completed faster?  Decompose tasks Open files Scroll to point of interest Type keywords Select class from classview Move, cut, paste  Preliminary results

Heuristic Evaluation  Is it easier to use?  Gerhardt-Powals (1996) Automate unwanted workload Fuse data (high level summaries) Use aids to interpretation (metaphors) Group data meaningfully Include only relevant information

Conclusions & Questions  Room for improvement of traditional IDEs  Most existing solutions focus on method implementation  Interfaces used in strategy games pose a potential solution easier to use more efficient navigation more effective documentation