Sneak Peak: Codemap User Study
Here is a preview of a recently submitted paper on Software Cartography. We report on preliminary results of an ongoing user study with both students and professional developers. Results are mixed and revised the assumption that lexical similarity is sufficient to layout the map. We are now working on a new distance metric that includes the ideal structural proximity proposed by the “Law of Demeter”. Also we are looking into new layout algorithms. For example, anchored MDS would allow developers to rearrange the map according to their system’s architecture.
NB if you are a professional developer from Switzerland, we encourage you to participate in our user study. Please contact David or me for more information.
The preview was created with Wordle, an idea that I owe to Tom Zimmermann.