Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Code Bubbles — Rethinking the IDE's User Interface

Posted by timothy on from the don't-get-distracted-now dept.

kang327 writes "As Java developers we are used to the familiar file-based user interface that is used by all of the major IDEs. A team at Brown University has developed an IDE for Java called Code Bubbles that makes a fairly radical departure from current IDEs — it is based on fragments instead of files. The idea is that you can see many different pieces of code at once. Fragments can form groups, have automatic layout assistance, wrap long lines based on syntax, and exist in a virtual workspace that you can pan. A video shows reading and editing code, opening different kinds of info such as Javadocs, bug reports and notes, annotating and sharing workspaces, and debugging with bubbles. They report on several user studies that show the system increases performance for the tasks studied, and also that professional developers were enthusiastic about using it. There is also a Beta that you can sign up for."

6 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. XEmacs binding... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    M-C-x fuck-up-my-screen

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  2. 2nd goal of a Java developer achieved.... by croftj · · Score: 4, Funny

    I figured out just recently that the first goal of any true Java developer is to write an abstraction layer/framework to abstract previous abstraction layers/frameworks written before them.

    Now, this week, I learn the 2nd goal. Write a way cool looking but really very complex development environment to help you muddle one's way through the myriad of abstraction layers already written.

    All of this just to help overcome the basics such as overloading operators.

    In all seriousness, this seems to show too little information with too much space in between. My screen real estate is vary valuable. Not to be wasted with pretty colored borders and arrows and such.

    -joe

    --
    -- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
  3. What HR Wants... by sycodon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wanted:
    Java developer with 40 years experience in Code Bubbling concepts.
    5 years experience with the Code Bubble IDE.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:What HR Wants... by ultranova · · Score: 3, Funny

      You forgot being 20 years old, single, and having already raised children to adulthood.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  4. Re:bubbles = isolation by Dishwasha · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just checked on Wikipedia and I couldn't find a picture of a function, could you draw me one please so I can see how to fill my bath tub with them?

  5. Shakespeare said it by Megahard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Beware the IDEs of March

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.