DocumentCode
2208989
Title
BCC: Enhancing code completion for better API usability
Author
Pletcher, David M. ; Hou, Daqing
Author_Institution
Comput. Sci., Clarkson Univ., Potsdam, NY, USA
fYear
2009
fDate
20-26 Sept. 2009
Firstpage
393
Lastpage
394
Abstract
Nowadays, programmers spend much of their workday dealing with code libraries and frameworks that are bloated with APIs. One common way of interacting with APIs is through Code Completion inside the code editor. By default, Code Completion presents in a scrollable list, in alphabetical order, all accessible members available in the apparent type and supertypes of a receiver expression. This default behavior for Code Completion should and can be further improved because (1) not all public methods are APIs and presenting non-API public members to a programmer is misleading, (2) certain APIs are meant to be accessible only in some limited contexts but not others, and (3) the alphabetical order separates otherwise logically related APIs, making it hard to see their connection. BCC (Better Code Completion) addresses these problems by enhancing Code Completion so that programmers can control how specific API elements should be sorted, filtered, and grouped.
Keywords
application program interfaces; computer aided software engineering; API application; API usability; Better Code Completion application; Code Completion enhancement; application program interface; code editor; code library; Computer science; Filters; Java; Productivity; Programming profession; Proposals; Prototypes; Software libraries; Speech; Usability;
fLanguage
English
Publisher
ieee
Conference_Titel
Software Maintenance, 2009. ICSM 2009. IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location
Edmonton, AB
ISSN
1063-6773
Print_ISBN
978-1-4244-4897-5
Electronic_ISBN
1063-6773
Type
conf
DOI
10.1109/ICSM.2009.5306289
Filename
5306289
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