Fluid source code views for just in-time comprehension

Abstract

non-peer-reviewedThe use of modern programming paradigms and technologies,such as object orientation, inheritance, polymorphism and aspect orientation, facilitate a number of important software engineeringbenefits. Concerns can be better separated, software is more modular and reusable, and evolution is a simpler and less invasive process. However these advances in programming technology also negatively impact the ability of software engineers to read, navigate and comprehend source code. The definition and execution flow of program operations is more fragmented and relationships between software units are often implicit and difficult to determine. In this paper we propose and present some initial work on a new direction in source code document presentation called fluid source code views. Fluid source code views enable programmers working on a primary source code document to fluidly shift attention to related supporting material in a contextual manner. This reduces the need for programmers to navigate and presents code in a manner more efficient and fitting in terms of comprehension. We very briefly discuss the motivation behind fluid source code views, present the approach and discuss both the potential advantages and disadvantages of this technology