Hi Frank,

On Sep 1, 2014, at 4:16 AM, Frank Shearar <frank.shearar at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 31 August 2014 18:02, Chris Muller <asqueaker at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 5:55 PM, Frank Shearar <frank.shearar at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> http://codeconnect.io/ shows someone editing code displayed on a
>>> function-by-function basis (sound familiar), with senders-of the
>>> currently displayed function/method automatically displayed in a
>>> column to the right.
>>> 
>>> That seems rather familiar, and a semi-straightforward thing to
>>> implement using our current browsers, right?
>> 
>> Surely, but you can get a close variation now.
>> 
>>    Preferences editAnnotations  "<---- doIt"
>> 
>> Then drag sendersCount to left side.  Click "Apply".
>> 
>> I know this isn't the actual list of senders itself, but would you
>> really want a whole 'nother pane constanly showing senders instead of
>> only on-demand?  For me, I think it would be too much noise to have on
>> all the time..
> 
> That's kind've the main point of the exercise: removing the need to
> have to reach out for context, instead of having the context be
> ambiently available, for want of a better phrase.

Infinite context and finite screen real estate do not mix.  What if I want to see test results, lines of code, commits to the same package by others, performance over time, etc etc at the same time without asking for it?  Clutter.  

Interesting that VisualStudio has for a long time provided configuration of what views to include. My use when at ParcPlace was debugging, quite different from development (back then, anyway), and hence my config was not the default.

But including senders and implementors isn't an innovation.  Vasilli's Hopscotch browser has done that for a while.  Personally I find it limited and in need of customization.  Often enough to be annoyed by it I ask to browse something used widely (eg class or at:put:) and am annoyed by the delay while results are computed and overwhelmed by the senders that are displayed.  It's a neat idea but I prefer asking.

What I'd like to see is help managing the set of windows that result form an activity, say a query to consider making some small change.  This might include a number of senders queries  some implementors queries etc.  it would be great if I had some way for treating this as unit, eg being able to close them all at once, or put them in a labelled supermorph, or... Chris Muller's tracing senders goes some way but doesn't really help much, and has no back button, so I find my original intent obscured by sub queries and sub results.

> 
> frank
>