High velocity refactorings in Eclipse

In Eclipse, and in most other development environments, refactorings are activated by selecting code, then using a menu or hotkey, and finally engaging in a dialog with a "wizard". However, selection is error-prone, menus are slow, hotkeys are hard to remember, and wizards are time-consuming. The problem is that as a consequence, refactoring tools disrupt the programmer's workflow and are perceived to be slower than refactoring by hand. In this paper we present two new user interfaces to Eclipse's existing refactoring engine: marking menus and refactoring cues. Both are designed to increase programming velocity by keeping the tool out of the programmer's way. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.3 [Software Engineering]: Coding Tools and Techniques; D.2.6 [Software Engineering]: Programming Environments. General Terms Design, Reliability, Human Factors Keywords Refactoring, tools, usability, environments

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: ECLIPSE
• Authors: Emerson R. Murphy-Hill, Andrew P. Black
• Keywords: ECLIPSE 2007, Menus, Refactoring, Refactoring Tools, Software Engineering