Documenting and sharing knowledge about code

Software engineers spend a considerable amount of time on program comprehension. Current research has primarily focused on assisting the developer trying to build up his understanding of the code. This knowledge remains only in the mind of the developer and, as time elapses, often “disappears”. In this research, we shift the focus to the developer who is using her Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for writing, modifying, or reading the code, and who actually understands the code she is working with. The objective of this PhD research is to seek ways to support this developer to document and share her knowledge with the rest of the team. In particular, we investigate the full potential of micro-blogging integrated into the IDE for addressing the program comprehension problem.