Code Bubbles: Rethinking the User Interface Paradigm of Integrated Development Environments

Code Bubbles (from 2010) is the most convincing code visualization tool that I can recall: ▶ this video Shame it never grew beyond a research prototype.

in “How do you visualize code?” · View on HN

> Code folding in a IDE goes a long way to make this bearable. Code folding in IDEs is an indication that we are doing it wrong -- that is, we human beings are programming computers "wrong." I'm not saying that code folding is a symptom. I'm saying that code folding shows how primitive our means of managing code is. It's as if the mesopotamians somehow invented computers, and because of tradition, all code has to be written as cuneiform on wet clay tablets, then fired in ovens before being read. At least text files in directories are digital, but they are as static and behavior-less as clay tablets, and all of the important relationships therein are expressed as implicit correspondences which programmers have to keep track of in their heads. Code Bubbles is a beacon in the direction we should go. ▶ this video

in “Pyret: A new programming language from the creators of Racket” · View on HN

Aha, so that's what happened to Code Bubbles. I saw this video about the project years ago, and always wondered. ▶ this video

in “An infinite canvas for code exploration” · View on HN

There is code bubbles. Early demo: ▶ this video current site (eclipse plugin for java projects?): [link] . Maybe also inspired Visual Studio debugger exploration. I haven't used it (but have wanted to)

in “Should you split that file?” · View on HN

It's just a general thought I've been having. We're using text and files because it's the way things always have been. But it seems there should be benefits to perhaps move beyond that. Things like with more canonical representations of code, rather than arguing over coding standards (although it can still text-based rather than completely graphical). Ability to more easily see related code and flows. Manage the meaning of code rather than its text (not changing text but changing symbols when you refactor). There's been attempts to move in that this direction with things like code bubbles ( ▶ this video ) but yet there hasn't been an approach that's both visually attractive and offers enough benefits, but it's probably coming somewhere down the line

in “Never edit a method, always rewrite it?” · View on HN

You are thinking of a structured editor. But as to the single feature you mentioned, see for example Code Bubbles: ▶ this video

in “Apple Dylan IDE (2014)” · View on HN