Code bubbles: a working set-based interface for code understanding and maintenance

ABSTRACT

Developers spend significant time reading and navigating code fragments spread across multiple locations. The file-based nature of contemporary IDEs makes it prohibitively difficult to create and maintain a simultaneous view of such fragments. We propose a novel user interface metaphor for code understanding based on collections of lightweight, editable fragments called bubbles, which form concurrently visible working sets. We present the results of a qualitative usability evaluation, and the results of a quantitative study which indicates Code Bubbles significantly improved code understanding time, while reducing navigation interactions over a widely-used IDE, for two controlled tasks.

References

1. Erlikh, L. Leveraging Legacy System Dollars for E-Business. IT Pro, May/June (2000), 17--23.
2. Ko, A.J. , Myers B, Coblenz, Aung H. An Exploratory Study of How Developers Seek, Relate, and Collect Relevant Information during Software Maintenance Tasks. IEEE TSE'06, 971--987.
3. Plumlee, M.D., Ware C. Zooming versus multiple window inter-faces: Cognitive costs of visual comparisons. ToCHI'06. p179--209.
4. Reiss, Steven. P. The Desert environment. TSM'99. p297--342.
5. Nackman, L.R. An overview of Montana. IBM Research '96.
6. Stockton R. Kramer, Nick. The Sheets hypercode editor. 1993.
7. Murphy, G. Kersten M, et al. How are Java software developers using the Eclipse IDE? IEEE Software 23, 2006, p76--83.
8. Robillard M. Coelho W et al. How effective developers investiage source code: An exploratory study. TSE'04, p 889--903.
9. Sherwood, Kaitlin Duck. Path exploration during code navigation. The University of British Columbia, 2008.
10. DeLine, R, Czerwinski M et al . Code Thumbnails: Using Spatial Memory to Navigate Source Code. VL/HCC'06, p11--18.
11. Coblenz M et al. JASPER: an Eclipse plug-in to facilitate software maintenance tasks. OOPSLA WETeX '06..
12. Singer, J Elves, R, and Storey. Navtracks: supporting navigation in software. ICPC'05, p173--175.
13. Kersten M and Murphy Gail C. Using task context to improve programmer productivity. SIGSOFT'06/FSE'14, 1--11.
14. DeLine, R, Czerwinski M et al. Easing program comprehension by sharing navigation data. VLHCC'05, p241--248.
15. Cubranic, D, Murphy, G C. Hipikat: recommending pertinant software development artifacts. ICSE'03.
16. Robillard, M.and Murphy Gail C. FEAT: a tool for locating, describing, and analyzing concerns in source code. ICSE'03. p822--823.
17. Robillard, M et al. ConcernMapper: simple view-based separation of scattered concerns. In OOPSLAWETex'05, p65--69.
18. Kersten, M and Murphy Gail C. Mylar: a degree-of-interest model for IDEs. AOSD '05, 159--168.
19. Wright, W, Schroh D, Proulx P, Skaburskis A, Cort B . The Sandbox for analysis: concepts and methods. CHI'06, p801--810.
20. Tan, D et al. WinCuts: manipulating arbitrary window regions for more effective use of screen space. CHI'04, p1525--1528.
21. Bly, S , Rosenber J.K. A comparison of tiled and overlapping windows. CHI'86, p101--106.
22. Henderson, D. et al. Rooms: the use of multiple virtual workspaces to reduce space contention in a window-based graphical UI. TOG'86.
23. Robertson, G. Horowitz E, Czerwinski M et al. Scalable Fabric: flexible task management. AVI'04, p 85--89.
24. Bragdon, A. Creating Simultaneous Views of Source Code in Contemporary IDEs using Tab Panes and MDI Child Windows: A Pilot Study. TR CS-09-09, Brown Univ. '09.
25. Bragdon, A. et al. GestureBar: improving the approachability of gesture-based interfaces. CHI'09, p2269--2278.
26. Watanabe, N. et al. Bubble clusters: an interface for manipulating spatial aggregation of graphical objects. UIST'07. p173--182.

Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)

    • Interaction paradigms

• Software and its engineering

  • Software notations and tools

    • Context specific languages

      • Window managers