Codetrail: Connecting source code and web resources
Name
JVLC-Codetrail.pdf
Size
522.72 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7e41af92af78b0f056cee0f38281d615
Author(s)
Goldman, Max
Miller, Robert C.
Date Issued
May 2009
Journal
Journal of Visual Languages and Computing
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Goldman, Max, and Robert C. Miller. “Codetrail: Connecting source code and web resources.” Journal of Visual Languages & Computing 20.4 (2009): 223-235.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
When faced with the need for documentation, examples, bug fixes, error descriptions, code snippets, workarounds, templates, patterns, or advice, software developers frequently turn to their web browser. Web resources both organized and authoritative as well as informal and community-driven are heavily used by developers. The time and attention devoted to finding (or re-finding) and navigating these sites is significant. We present Codetrail, a system that demonstrates how the developer's use of web resources can be improved by connecting the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) and the Firefox web browser. Codetrail uses a communication channel and shared data model between these applications to implement a variety of integrative tools. By combining information previously available only to the IDE or the web browser alone (such as editing history, code contents, and recent browsing), Codetrail can automate previously manual tasks and enable new interactions that exploit the marriage of data and functionality from Firefox and Eclipse. Just as the IDE will change the contents of peripheral views to focus on the particular code or task with which the developer is engaged, so, too, the web browser can be focused on the developer's current context and task.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Terms of Use
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvlc.2009.04.003
