Single-window integrated development environment

Ivan Ruchkin (1) , Vladimir Prus (2)

1 MSU - Lomonosov Moscow State University
2 CSL - Computer Systems Laboratory [Moscow]

This paper addresses the problem of IDE interface complexity by introducing single-window graphical user interface. This approach lies in removing additional child windows from IDE, thus allowing a user to keep only text editor window open. We describe an abstract model of IDE GUI that is based on most popular modern integrated environments and has generalized user interface parts. Then this abstract model is reorganized into single windowed interface model: access to common IDE functions is provided from the code editing window while utility windows are removed without loss of IDE functionality. After that the implementation of single-window GUI on KDevelop 4 is described. And finally tool views and usability of several well- known IDEs are surveyed.

Mots clés: integrated development environment (IDE); graphical user interface (GUI); usability; widget; single-window interface/design/approach; tool view (utility window); KDevelop; Microsoft Visual Studio; Eclipse; Code::Blocks; NetBeans.; NetBeans

Domaines: Génie logiciel [cs.SE]

Ivan Ruchkin, Vladimir Prus. Single-window integrated development environment. 4th Spring/Summer Young Researchers' Colloquium on Software Engineering (SYRCoSE) 2010, Jun 2010, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. pp.20-25. ⟨hal-00714936⟩