Improving code completion based on repetitive code completion operations

Abstract

Although code completion is inevitable for effective code editing on integrated development environments, existing code completion tools can be improved. A previous study noted that developers sometimes perform ineffective repetitions of the same code completion operations. Hence, this paper introduces a statement, “A more recently inserted code completion candidate should be given a higher rank among previously inserted items in the candidate list.” To confirm this statement, this paper examines the following three points. First, an experiment using operation histories is presented to reconfirm that developers more frequently repeat recent code completion operations. Second, a tool called RCC Candidate Sorter is presented. It alters the sorting algorithm of the default Eclipse code completion tool to prioritize candidates inserted by recent code completion. Finally, an experiment is conducted to evaluate the performance of the tool. The experimental result shows that it outperforms an existing method.