The Moldable Inspector: a framework for domain-specific object inspection

Chis, Andrei; Girba, Tudor; Nierstrasz, Oscar (2014). The Moldable Inspector: a framework for domain-specific object inspection. In: Proceedings of International Workshop on Smalltalk Technologies (IWST 2014) (pp. 119-125). IWST

Text Chis14a-MoldableInspector.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (1MB)

Answering run-time questions in object-oriented systems involves reasoning about and exploring connections between multiple objects. Developer questions exercise various aspects of an object and require multiple kinds of interactions depending on the relationships between objects, the application domain and the differing developer needs. Nevertheless, traditional object inspectors, the essential tools often used to reason about objects, favor a generic view that focuses on the low-level details of the state of individual objects. This leads to an inefficient effort, increasing the time spent in the inspector. To improve the inspection process, we propose the Moldable Inspector, a novel approach for an extensible object inspector. The Moldable Inspector allows developers to look at objects using multiple interchangeable presentations and supports a workflow in which multiple levels of connecting objects can be seen together. Both these aspects can be tailored to the domain of the objects and the question at hand. We further exemplify how the proposed solution improves the inspection process, introduce a prototype implementation and discuss new directions for extending the Moldable Inspector.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

1 since deposited on 23 Apr 2015
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item