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| CATEGORIES ABOUT CLASS BROWSER | |
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HISTORY OF CLASS BROWSERS Most modern class browsers owe their origins to Smalltalk , one of the earliest object-oriented languages. The Smalltalk browser was a series of horizontally-abutting panes at the top of a Text Editor Window that listed the class hierarchy of the Smalltalk system. A Class selected in one pane would list the Subclasses of that class in the next pane to the right. For leaf classes, the farthest left pane would list the class instance variables and allow them to be edited. Most succeeding object-oriented languages differed from Smalltalk in that they were Compiled and executed in a discrete Runtime Environment , rather that being dynamically integrated into a monolithic system like the early Smalltalk environments. Nevertheless, the concept of a table-like or graphic browser to navigate a class hierarchy. With the popularity of C++ starting in the late- 1980s , modern IDEs added class browsers, at first to simply navigate class hierarchies, and later to aid in the creation of new classes. With the introduction of Java in the mid- 1990s class browsers became an expected part of any graphic development environment. CLASS BROWSING IN MODERN IDES All major development environments supply some manner of class browser, including
Modern class browsers fall into three general categories: the columnar browsers, the '''outline''' browsers, and the '''diagram''' browsers. Columnar Browsers Continuing the Smalltalk tradition, columnar browsers display the class hierarchy from left to right in a series of columns. Often the rightmost column is reserved for the instance methods or variables of the leaf class. Outline Browsers Systems with roots in Microsoft Windows tend to use an outline-form browser, often with colorful (if cryptic) icons to denote classes and their attributes. Diagram Browsers In the early years of the 21st century class browsers began to morph into Modeling Tools , where programmers could not only visualize their class hierarchy as a diagram, but also add classes to their code by adding them to the diagram. Most of these visualization systems have been based on some form of the Unified Modeling Language . REFACTORING CLASS BROWSERS As development environments add Refactoring features, many of these features have been implemented in the class browser as well as in text editors. A refactoring browser can allow a programmer to move an instance variable from one class to another simply by dragging it in the graphic user interface, or to combine or separate classes using mouse gestures rather than a large number of text editor commands. LOGIC BROWSERS An early add-on for Digitalk implemented in Smalltalk ( LISP engines have often been implemented in Smalltalk). A comparable browser can be found in ILog rules and some OPS production systems. Visual Prolog and xpce provide comparable rule browsing. In the case of SOUL, VisualWorks is provided with both a Query browser and a Clause browser; Backtalk provides a Constraints Browser. It is interesting to note the comments of Alan Kay on the parallel of Smalltalk and Prolog emerging in the same time-frame but with very little cross-fertilization. The interest in XSB prolog for XUL and the migration of AMZI! prolog to the Eclipse IDE are current paths in logic browser evolution. Rules encapsulated in classes can be found in Logtalk and several OOP prolog variants such as Visual Prolog and AMZI! as well as mainstream SICSTUS. CLASS BROWSERS RUNNING IN WEB BROWSERS One variant of the , a right-click on the background opens a ClassHierarchyBrowser. This is somewhat like editing Javascript prototypes in a web browser or Ruby (programming Language) , Groovy or Jython classes in an Integrated Development Environment running in a JVM . SEE ALSO
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