Graphically Depicting Program Code Depth

• US 20080052670A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Drukman, Maxwell O., Ewing, David, Wendker, Andreas, Espinosa, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3604 Software analysis for verifying properties of programs byte-code verification G06F9/44589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/33 Intelligent editors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/75 Structural analysis for program understanding

Abstract

Systems and methods for graphically depicting program depth are provided. Systems and methods can include generation of an edit pane and a ribbon column. The edit pane displays the program code, while a ribbon column displays the depth of an associated row of program code.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing an editing pane for editing program code, the program code including an indicator for marking a depth associated various segments of program code;

generating a ribbon column based upon the depth of the program code, the ribbon column including a graphical representation of the depth of associated segments of program code; and

displaying the ribbon column and the editing pane.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator is an indentation associated with the line of program code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ribbon column is color coded to show depth associated with a particular segment of code.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein darker colors indicate a lower depth an lighter colors indicate a higher depth associated with the particular segment of program code.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein lighter colors indicate a deeper depth and lighter colors indicate a shallow depth associated with the particular segment of program code.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the color coding is in gray scale.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection from a programmer, the selection being associated with at least a selection from the ribbon column;

enabling an edit portion of the edit pane responsive to the selection.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the edit portion of the edit pane comprises a segment of program code associated with the selected portion of the ribbon column.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selection enables editing at a selected depth and lower.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising color coding segments of code displayed in the edit pane based upon depth associated with the segments of code.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from a programmer to collapse a portion of program code; and

collapsing the portion of program code in the edit pane including displaying a symbol in an associated portion of the ribbon pane indicating the portion of program code.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to collapse a portion of code is based upon receiving a selected depth from the programmer which causes program code at the selected depth and lower to be included in the portion of the program code to be collapsed.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a structure associated with the program code; and

assigning a depth to segments of the program code.

14. A code editing system, comprising:

an editing pane editor operable to generate an edit pane for use in editing program code;

a ribbon column generator operable to generate a ribbon column based upon a depth associated with the program code, the ribbon column including a graphical representation of the depth of corresponding segments of program code; and

a user interface, the user interface being operable to display an edit pane and a ribbon column.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the ribbon column is color coded to show depth associated with a particular segment of code.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein darker colors indicate a deeper depth and lighter colors indicate a shallow depth associated with the particular segment of program code.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein lighter colors indicate a deeper depth and lighter colors indicate a shallow depth associated with the particular segment of program code.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the color coding is in gray scale.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the user interface is operable to receive a selection from a programmer, the selection being associated with at least a selected portion of the ribbon column;

wherein the editing pane editor enables an edit portion of the edit pane responsive to the selection.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein enabling the edit portion of the edit pane comprises enabling editing of a selected segment of program code, the selected segment of program code being a portion of the ribbon pane selected by the programmer.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the selection enables editing at a selected depth and lower.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the edit pane generator is further operable to color code the program code displayed in the edit pane based upon the depth associated with the program code.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the edit pane editor is further operable to receive a request to collapse a portion of program code, and to replace the portion of the program code in the edit pane with a symbol representing omitted program code.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the ribbon column generator is operable to replace a ribbon segment associated with the collapsed portion of the program code with a symbol representing omitted program code.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the request to collapse a portion of code is based upon receipt of a selected ribbon column point, the edit pane generator thereby causing problem code at a depth associated with the selected ribbon column point and any lower depths to be included in the program code to be replaced by the symbol.

26. Computer readable media comprising instructions that upon execution by a system processor cause the system processor to perform steps comprising:

providing an editing pane for editing program code, the program code including segments;

analyzing the program code for a depth associated with the segments of the program code;

generating a ribbon column based upon the depth of the program code, the ribbon column including a graphical representation of the depth of segments of program code; and

displaying the ribbon column separately from the editing pane.

27. A method comprising:

providing an editing pane for editing program code, the program code including segments;

analyzing the segments of the program code to determine a depth associated with the segments of program code;

generating a ribbon column based upon the depth of the segments of program code, the ribbon column including a graphical representation of the depth of associated segments of program code; and

displaying the ribbon column and the editing pane.