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Context-Based Search, Recommendation and Browsing in Software Development

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Context in Computing

Abstract

With workspaces frequently comprising hundreds, or even thousands, of artifacts, developers spend a considerable amount of time navigating the source code or searching for a specific source code artifact they need to work. With the aim of helping developers during their work, the authors propose a context-based approach to search, recommend and browse source code in the workspace. The source code structure stored in the workspace of the developer is represented in a knowledge base, and a context model represents the source code elements that are more relevant for the developer in a specific moment. These structures are then used to improve the retrieval, ranking and navigation of source code elements. The experiments conducted with developers showed that the use of contextual information is of valuable importance to help identify the most relevant source code elements for the developer at each moment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://eclipse.org

  2. 2.

    http://sdic.dei.uc.pt

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Acknowledgement

Bruno Antunes was supported by a FCT (Fundaç˜ao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) scholarship grant SFRH/BD/43336/2008, co-funded by ESF (European Social Fund).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra, Polo II, Pinhal de Marrocos, 3030-290, Coimbra, Portugal

    Bruno Antunes, Barbara Furtado & Paulo Gomes

Authors
  1. Bruno Antunes
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  2. Barbara Furtado
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  3. Paulo Gomes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruno Antunes .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris, France

    Patrick Brézillon

  2. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

    Avelino J. Gonzalez

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Antunes, B., Furtado, B., Gomes, P. (2014). Context-Based Search, Recommendation and Browsing in Software Development. In: Brézillon, P., Gonzalez, A. (eds) Context in Computing. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1887-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1887-4_4

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