The VIVIDE programming environment: connecting run-time information with programmers' system knowledge

Abstract

Programmers benefit from concrete program run-time information during code-centric comprehension activities. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art programming environments distract programmers from their task-oriented thinking by forcing them to cope with (1) tool-driven run-time information access and with (2) tool-driven changing information views. However, current research projects address these problems with new concepts for capturing run-time behavior as needed and for organizing all information on-screen according to the programmers' mental model. Unfortunately, there has been no attempt that tries to combine available solutions into one single approach. We propose a new concept for programming environments, which allow programmers to work in a task-oriented way: Run-time information is collected automatically using tests; Information is displayed consistently in self-contained editors arranged on a horizontal boundless tape. We illustrate practicability with an implementation in Squeak/Smalltalk. We believe that such environments will allow programmers to explore program-related information without noticeable tool switches and hence context switches. Having this, the cognitive effort will be reduced and thus programmers will make fewer false conclusions and eventually save time.