Title :
Textual views of source code to support comprehension
Author :
Cox, Anthony ; Collard, Michael L.
Author_Institution :
Fac. of Comput. Sci., Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS, Canada
Abstract :
Source code can be viewed in many ways, with each view facilitating access to different information contained within the code. We explore the role that marked-up textual views can provide in support of software comprehension and maintenance. Text has the advantages of being easily communicated, effectively manipulated with existing tools, and highly scalable. Furthermore, marked-up text models may improve comprehension by expressing information directly within the context of maintainers´ focus - the source code they are manipulating. The session intends to explore the expressibility of marked-up text and its applicability in support of program comprehension tasks. Topics will include: the roles these models fulfill, their limitations, their combination, and the exploration of future research directions.
Keywords :
program compilers; reverse engineering; software maintenance; text analysis; marked-up text model; marked-up textual views; program comprehension task; software comprehension; software maintenance; source code; Computer science; Context modeling; Flow graphs; HTML; Robustness; Scalability; Software maintenance; Tree graphs; World Wide Web; XML;
Conference_Titel :
Program Comprehension, 2005. IWPC 2005. Proceedings. 13th International Workshop on
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-2254-8
DOI :
10.1109/WPC.2005.49