Redprint: integrating API specific "instant example" and "instant documentation" display interface in IDEs

Authors:
Anant P. Bhardwaj;Dave Luciano;Scott R. Klemmer
Affiliations:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA;Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA;Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM symposium adjunct on User interface software and technology
Year:
2011

Citing 3
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Abstract

Software libraries for most of the modern programming languages are numerous, large and complex. Remembering the syntax and usage of APIs is a difficult task for not just novices but also expert programmers. IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) provide capabilities like autocomplete and intellisense to assist programmers; however, programmers still need to visit search engines like Google to find API (Application Program Interface) documentation and samples. This paper evaluates Redprint - a browser based development environment for PHP that integrates API specific "Instant Example" and "Instant Documentation" display interfaces. A comparative laboratory study shows that integrating API specific "Instant Example" and "Instant Documentation" display interfaces into a development environment significantly reduces the cost of searching and thus significantly reduces the time to develop software.