I have been working on deploying a simple web app over the last 2-weeks. The experience has been one that has highlighted how Open Source is changing programming for all of us. First up: the pleasures of open source

The goal of the app was to get something very basic and quick out there. I was taking a very simple utility – one that had been built over a day and making it available to everyone. Doing this meant adding what is commonly expected of most apps these days: storing results in a database, adding support for accounts and authentication, and integrating with a couple of external systems to make the utility easier to use.

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We got the early release of CodeMaps out yesterday. It has been great to hear all the feedback.

Over half the people that came to the site liked it – we are excited to hear that the site is meeting a need. About a third of the people felt like it needed work – we agree, and we are just starting the process (please keep on giving us the feedback). One-tenth of the people did not find the site helpful – we are hoping that as we improve the site and make it’s purpose more obvious that this will change.

For the curious, the above numbers are 53%, 35%, and 11% respectively (we used the the survey forms attached on the site).

The biggest question that we heard about was about the sites purpose. Our goal is big, as we mentioned earlier:

Out goal is to help you use an Open Source Project. We want to help you easily look at the API’s/Javadoc; Make it easy to get a code snippet for using a feature in a library; Simplify finding the right blog post; And even get you a high-level view of the project.

We are planning to start this simply:

First, we want to extend Javadoc – and let you see the source when you need it. Along with that, give you the niceties of your IDE. Being able to easily jump to the caller/callee of a method is often very helpful.

Next, we want to take this fancy code viewer and let you tag it with ‘concepts’. Concepts are the glue that our site uses to connect your code together. And possibly connect your code to things like blog posts, wiki pages, or questions on stack overflow. We want these ‘concepts’ to be used to describe any code concern and can range from a name for some code that you might care about to a high-level architectural principles in the project.

Oh yeah, as we do this, we are hoping that we will have a single site where you want to go to figure out how to use a project. Where for a library that you are using, you can easily find relevant blog posts voted up by the community or just find answers to questions (asked on sites like StackOverflow).

We have been improving the site – please try out CodeMaps, and let us know what you think. Let us know what you think? What should we do differently?

As we mentioned in out last post we have been working on a site to help Java Developers use Open Source Projects. The site is in an early stage but we want to work on the site openly and improve it with your feedback.

Out goal is to help you use an Open Source Project. We want to help you easily look at the API’s/Javadoc; Make it easy to get a code snippet for using a feature in a library; Simplify finding the right blog post; And even get you a high-level view of the project.

Yes, it’s a big goal, but we feel like there is so much that can be done to make out lives as coders easier. We hope this is a good first step in the right direction.

Check out the site: http://CodeMaps.org. If you can’t find your favorite project we can help! Click the ‘Add Project’ button on the top, and our engine will import the project for you to view.

Oh yeah, make sure to let us know what you think. We want CodeMaps to grow into something that you use want to tell your friends about!

Whoops! We made a mistake.

We invited everyone to signup for access to our new website. Due to some permission settings some of you were not able to access the signup form. Please submit your name here: http://atxa.io/Hsv3Mx

We have been trying to build something amazing to help developers quickly understand how to get moving with large projects. As we have been doing that, we have been hearing a growing set of requests for help with Open Source Projects.

We have spent the last last few months improving our engine and building a couple of cool features to help the users with open source projects – in large part based on ideas that were sent to us. Well, it’s Spring, and it’s time to pull the covers off.

We are almost ready for our public release, but before that we want feedback from the community on what we have built. Want to be one of the first to find, sign up up now here: http://atxa.io/Hsv3Mx

Update: Some of our initial visitors had some issues while completing the feedback form. We apologize for it and the issue has been fixed. If you face any issues please drop us a note at support@architexa.com. Thanks!

Eclipse is turning 10 years – and we have been in a mood to celebrate it. We have been involved in a lot of Eclipse related events in the past, but wanted to do something special this year.

If you are in Boston, come join us next week. We will be having free pizza, beer and even a birthday cake. We will have a bunch of people who really know Eclipse inside-out and will be showcasing a bunch of the cool technology being built these days.

Time and Location: We have planned to have the event on 17 November 2011 at 6:30PM, at Constant Contact, (Reservoir Place, 1601 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA 02451 – see on map).

Here’s what you’ll get to see in this month’s Eclipse Demo Day:

CodeMaps.org – by Architexa

Architexa will demonstrate CodeMaps, a site built to help developers to easily understand Open Source projects from their web browsers, and the result of the exploration can be documented and shared online.

Code Sight Code Search – by Black Duck

Black Duck will demonstrate Code Sight, a free code search tool developers can use for their everyday search needs. This short demonstration will include searching and filtering capabilities that make finding code easier.

Open Source Jenkins CI – by CloudBees

CloudBees will show you how to use open source Jenkins CI to leverage agile development. Additionally, you can manage your development work and projects – all from within the Eclipse IDE, using the free plugin provided by CloudBees!

Orion Demonstration – by Eclipse

Eclipse will give a short demonstration of Orion, an online editor that runs in the web browser using javascript. Unlike other attempts at creating browser-based development tools, this is not an IDE running in a single tab. Links work and can be shared.

Eclipse Apricot Project – byNuxeo

Nuxeo will present the Eclipse Apricot project and introduce how to develop content-centric applications with Apricot project and with the Nuxeo IDE Eclipse plugin.

If you want to hear more information, you can visit Eclipse Demo Day or contact Sarah at sgerrol@blackducksoftware.com.

You can register for the event at Eclipse DemoCamps November 2011/ Boston.

When development teams are in the same room, it is not surprising to see diagrams being used – if only being shared via sketches made on pads, or through the use of whiteboards. Interestingly, despite the fact that OSS teams are distributed geographically, diagrams also play an important role in OSS development.

There was a helpful research done by Koji Yatani et al. at University of Toronto and Oregon State University. They studied developers on the Ubuntu project and found that developers create and distribute digitalized diagrams as opposed to physical sketches. While the uses of diagrams are specific to the Ubuntu projects, there are definitely lessons that we can learn to apply in other OSS projects to ensure successful development.

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“Diagrams?”

Yes, diagrams. All of us use diagrams in one way or another. Mostly, diagrams are used to enhance communication and to illustrate what exactly one is talking about.

“But that’s it. Diagrams are sketches which are meant to be thrown away without deserving a second look.”

Now that’s where you’re wrong. In fact, diagrams are more useful than they appear to be. Yes, diagrams often become outdated fast in the software development industry and that tends to lead to people having a biased view against them. They often quickly assume diagrams are useless.
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What exactly makes a codebase easy to understand; the documentation or the tools that you use? In our effort to help developers who are working with large codebases, we conducted a survey (see details and highlights) to find out what techniques developers use to better understand code.
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Let’s face it; code can be hard to understand. We have all encountered a piece of code that took longer than expected to figure out or was easy to misunderstand. It could be a new library, a coworker’s code, or your own code from 6 month’s ago.

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