From: avi@...4.com (Avi Bryant)
Date: 2002-01-15T09:50:05+09:00
Subject: Re: Small Methods - a ramble

"Curt Hibbs" <curt@hibbs.com> wrote in message 

> This is precisely, why I like the hybrid approach of having the edit window
> hold entire files while a separate navigation pane shows the logical
> hierarchy in a collapsible tree outline. I think this does a reasonable good
> job of handling both approaches to code viewing/browsing.

Part of what I very much like about the smalltalk browser has to do
with its ergonomics: first, that the piece of code you're reading is
always in exactly the same physical location on the screen.  I find
this much easier than jumping around in a file - my attention stays
focused on the same place while the content changes.  If you're
proposing a system that jumps around selecting methods for you, I
would very much like it to keep the current window and method always
centered on the screen.
Second, I find column browsers much more efficient than collapsible
trees, at least when the hierarchy is of known depth (I know, with
nested classes in Ruby it's not entirely known...).  Part of this,
again, has to do with keeping the same locations and having easy
targets for a mouse to hit - if classes are always on the left and
methods on the right, you build up more muscle memory than in a
constantly changing and collapsing tree.

Just my $0.02, obviously.
avi