CodeSkimmer: a novel visualization tool for capturing, replaying, and understanding fine-grained change in software

Understanding change in software development is a time-intensive yet essential task. Developers must understand the evolution of code in order to properly write, revise, and refactor their own additions. Historically, version control systems were the central method for interpreting how a software project has changed over time. However, these systems are limited in the amount of information they can convey and in the ways they allow users to understand change. My thesis is a new way of understanding code change. We created CodeSkimmer, a plug-in for Eclipse that can replay every action a developer took while using the editor. The plug-in offers several ways to aid in interpreting the playback. A visualization shows users, graphically, the types of changes that occurred while social, textual, and temporal filters are provided to mark points of interest in the set of recorded operations. These interesting operations are then highlighted through automatic alteration in the playback speed as well as through different visual methods.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Computer Science

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Simmons, Connor

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bailey, Brian P.

• visualization
• eclipse
• eclipse plugin
• code change
• understanding change
• understanding code
• replay
• code skimming
• CodeSkimmer
• code playback
• user interface
• playback speed
• replay speed
• code filter

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Connor L Simmons

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44125

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44125