Code Bubbles — Rethinking the IDE's User Interface 198
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."
XEmacs binding... (Score:5, Funny)
2nd goal of a Java developer achieved.... (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
What HR Wants... (Score:5, Funny)
Wanted:
Java developer with 40 years experience in Code Bubbling concepts.
5 years experience with the Code Bubble IDE.
Emacs has been able to do this for ages ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:bubbles = isolation (Score:3, Funny)
I just checked on Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] 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?
Re:What a giant failure (Score:3, Funny)
Some of us like the mouse and window for code editing.
Some of us probably like getting punched in the nuts, but that doesn't make it reasonable or painless.
It's all about the context switches. When you're typing along productively, then have to stop to get the mouse, find the pointer on the screen, get it to where you want it, perform whatever action, then pop back to the keyboard to continue, you've had to bounce your attention across several distinct actions. That just isn't productive.
Re:Oh goodie (Score:2, Funny)
If your editor does not already let you do this, why haven't you upgraded to Emacs yet?
since it is not based on files (Score:3, Funny)
Too bad that you have to have an unused partition on your drive to use this thing.
--
No files for you!
Re:What HR Wants... (Score:4, Funny)
You forgot being 20 years old, single, and having already raised children to adulthood.
Re:bubbles = isolation (Score:3, Funny)
From a coder's perspective it looks pretty useful/usable. You often find yourself going back to alter something you've worked on before, and that something is spread out over 5 different places none of them in the same class/file/whatnot. If you built a bubble when you went in the first time, this would make that much easier to find all the parts again, especially since it has often been months since you last touched that code.
Then again, the last thing we need is to give Java coders a way to build even more complex class hierarchies.
Shakespeare said it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:bubbles = isolation (Score:3, Funny)
Java + "small and short" = FILE_NOT_FOUND.
SyntaxError at Line:1 Column:25. Attempted write in left hand expression.
Re:It's a good idea. (Score:3, Funny)
I think it's brilliant. I don't care if somebody did it somewhere else before and deserves all the credit--that's beside the point.
Wait... are you by chance a US Patent Clerk?