Stacksplorer: call graph navigation helps increasing code maintenance efficiency

Authors:
Thorsten Karrer;Jan-Peter Krämer;Jonathan Diehl;Björn Hartmann;Jan Borchers
Affiliations:
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany;University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, CA, USA;RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Venue:
Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology
Year:
2011

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Abstract

We present Stacksplorer, a new tool to support source code navigation and comprehension. Stacksplorer computes the call graph of a given piece of code, visualizes relevant parts of it, and allows developers to interactively traverse it. This augments the traditional code editor by offering an additional layer of navigation. Stacksplorer is particularly useful to understand and edit unknown source code because branches of the call graph can be explored and backtracked easily. Visualizing the callers of a method reduces the risk of introducing unintended side effects. In a quantitative study, programmers using Stacksplorer performed three of four software maintenance tasks significantly faster and with higher success rates, and Stacksplorer received a System Usability Scale rating of 85.4 from participants.