Abstract:
It has been observed that the activity of programming is not a linear progression, but a complex hopping between many threads[1]. It appears that remembering all the necessary threads, and directing attention appropriately, may exceed the limits of human working memory[2]. This paper describes work in progress to design and create a tool which models and supports programmers’ mental activity by external assistance to their working memory, both for gathering of information and for direction of attention. It presents some initial findings from the use of a prototypical implementation, and puts forward some suggestions for experiments based around the tool.
PPIG 2005 - 17th Annual Workshop
Sidebrain: a sidekick for the programmer’s brain