So I was thinking about Hackystat again (It just sucks you in!) and was wondering if Hackystat functionality could be extended to collect source code snippets that a developer is hacking on. The reason why I started thinking about source code collection was the way I created the usermaps GUI. I was having problems getting it to display properly and basically ended up following this process:
1. Write some code, build it, view it. 2. Re-write the code, build it and view it again. 3. Rinse and repeat. After long periods of time trying to get the GUI to look how I wanted, I ended up re-writing the same code. For example I would move buttons back to locations that they have already been or resized components back to a previously used dimension. Because of the mass amounts of code re-writing, I would waste time waiting for the build process to finish only to see that the result is again a view that I do not wish to see. I was thinking that if a sensor could collect code snippets you were working on, the developer would be able view them later and minimize the re-writing of the same code. After talking in the lab today with Hongbing, Julie, and James, the approach turned into a comparison of code snippets to the actual snapshot of the GUI. This would be helpful since the majority of my work on HackyInstaller deals with getting the GUI to look just right. I don't know if Hackystat would be able to collect snippets of code because code changes so much during the hacking session. And maybe the GUI creation process won't be as painful when the new build system is in. Anyways, just a thought. Cheers, austen
