Context-based Operation Merging in Real-Time Collaborative Programming Environments
Hongguang Zhou, Yifan Ma, Wenhua Xu, Mingjie Wang, Bowen Du, Hongfei Fan · 2022 IEEE 25th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD) · 2022
Real-time collaborative programming environments support a team of programmers to edit shared source code at the same time, where each local editing operation is captured and immediately transmitted to remote sites in a fine-grained manner. However, under real-world network conditions, collaborators are usually plagued by data congestion and transmitted errors. In this study, we define and analyze the content relationships among operations, and propose a Context-based Operation Merging Algorithm (COMA). Technically, the COMA examines the content relationships among a series of editing operations and merges content-related operations. Powered by the COMA, real-time collaborative programming environments can significantly compress editing operations to cope with complex network situations (such as network fluctuation and interruption) and improve the user experience of real-time collaboration. The proposed COMA has been implemented in a real-time collaborative programming environment prototype, namely CoEclipse. Preliminary user evaluations, correctness analysis and performance evaluations have demonstrated the effectiveness, correctness, and efficiency of the algorithm.