Supporting task-oriented navigation in IDEs with configurable HeatMaps
David Röthlisberger, Oscar Nierstrasz, Sté́phane Ducasse, Damien Pollet, Romain Robbes · 2009
Mainstream IDEs generally rely on the static structure of a software project to support browsing and navigation. We propose HeatMaps, a simple but highly configurable technique to enrich the way an IDE displays the static structure of a software system with additional kinds of information. A HeatMap highlights software artifacts according to various metric values, such as bright red or pale blue, to indicate their potential degree of interest. We present a prototype system that implements HeatMaps, and we describe an initial study that assesses the degree to which different HeatMaps effectively guide developers in navigating software.