Embedding Spatial Software Visualization in the IDE: an Exploratory Study

Software visualization can be of great use for understanding and exploring a software system in an intuitive manner. Spatial representation of software is a promising approach of increasing interest. However, little is known about how developers interact with spatial visualizations that are embedded in the IDE. In this paper, we present a pilot study that explores the use of Software Cartography for program comprehension of an unknown system. We investigated whether developers establish a spatial memory of the system, whether clustering by topic offers a sound base layout, and how developers interact with maps. We report our results in the form of observations, hypotheses, and implications. Key findings are a) that developers made good use of the map to inspect search results and call graphs, and b) that developers found the base layout surprising and often confusing. We conclude with concrete advice for the design of embedded software maps.Comment: To appear in proceedings of SOFTVIS 2010 conferenc

Empowering Collections with Swarm Behavior

Often, when modelling a system there are properties and operations that are related to a group of objects rather than to a single object. In this paper we extend Java with Swarm Behavior, a new composition operator that associates behavior with a collection of instances. The lookup resolution of swarm behavior is based on the element type of a collection and is thus orthogonal to the collection hierarchy

Extraktion und kartografische Visualisierung von Informationen aus Weblogs

Zusammenfassungen: Beim Information Retrieval ist in Anbetracht der Informationsflut entscheidend, relevante Informationen zu finden. Ein vielversprechender Ansatz liegt im semantischen Web, wobei dem System die Bedeutung von Informationen ontologiebasiert beigebracht wird. Sucht der Benutzer nach Stichworten, werden ihm anhand der Ontologie verwandte Begriffe angezeigt, und er kann mittels Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion seine relevanten Informationen extrahieren. Um eine solche Interaktion zu fördern, werden die Ergebnisse visuell aufbereitet. Dabei liegt der Mehrwert darin, dass der Benutzer anstelle von Tausenden von Suchresultaten in einer fast endlosen Liste ein kartografisch visualisiertes Suchresultat geliefert bekommt. Dabei hilft die Visualisierung, unvorhergesehene Beziehungen zu entdecken und zu erforsche

Immediate search in the IDE as an example of socio-technical congruence in search-driven development

Search-driven development is mainly concerned with code reuse but also with code navigation and debugging. In this essay we look at search-driven navigation in the IDE. We consider Smalltalk-80 as an example of a programming system with search-driven navigation capabilities and explore its human factors. We present how immediate search results lead to a user experience of code browsing rather than one of waiting for and clicking through search results. We explore the socio-technical congruence of immediate search, ie unification of tasks and breakpoints with method calls, which leads to simpler and more extensible development tools. Eventually we conclude with remarks on the socio-technical congruence of search-driven development

Meta-environment and executable meta-language using smalltalk: an experience report

Object-oriented modelling languages such as EMOF are often used to specify domain specific meta-models. However, these modelling languages lack the ability to describe behavior or operational semantics. Several approaches have used a subset of Java mixed with OCL as executable meta-languages. In this experience report we show how we use Smalltalk as an executable meta-language in the context of the Moose reengineering environment. We present how we implemented EMOF and its behavioral aspects. Over the last decade we validated this approach through incrementally building a meta-described reengineering environment. Such an approach bridges the gap between a code-oriented view and a meta-model driven one. It avoids the creation of yet another language and reuses the infrastructure and run-time of the underlying implementation language. It offers an uniform way of letting developers focus on their tasks while at the same time allowing them to meta-describe their domain model. The advantage of our approach is that developers use the same tools and environment they use for their regular tasks. Still the approach is not Smalltalk specific but can be applied to language offering an introspective API such as Ruby, Python, CLOS, Java and C

Vulnerability of uneven-aged forests to storm damage

Uneven-aged forests are assumed to have a high stability against storm damage but have rarely been analysed for vulnerability to storm damage due to a lack of a sufficient empirical database. Here we model storm damage in uneven-aged forest to analyse major factors that may determine the sensitivity of this type of forests to storms based on a broad database. Data are derived of public forests in the canton Neuchâtel in West Switzerland that are dominated by silver fir and Norway spruce and managed since the beginning of the 20th century following a single-tree selection system. A unique dataset of periodical (every 5-10 years) full inventories measuring the diameter of every single tree including salvage cuttings was available for the investigation. The time series reached back until 1920 and covered an area of 16 000 ha divided into 3000 divisions. The effect of a major winter storm (‘Lothar') in December 1999 on these forests was investigated using a subset of 648 divisions. The influence of the vertical stand structure on the vulnerability of storm damage was studied using logistic regression models. To facilitate the analyses, an index of closeness to a J-shaped distribution (LikeJ) based on the number of trees in different diameter classes was developed. Besides structural indices, variables representing stand characteristics, soil-related and topography-related variables were included. The results of our study show that the overall damage level of the investigated forests was rather low. The variables that entered the model for the uneven-aged stands were different to those that are normally significant for even-aged stands. While variables like stand structure, the timing of the harvesting and topographic variables entered a multivariate statistical model as significant predictors, standard predictors for storm damage in even-aged stands such as stand density, thinning intensity or species composition were not significant. We hypothesize that the uneven-aged structure of the investigated forests may be one reason for the low damage level we observed but emphasize the need for more detailed research to support this conclusio