RefactorPad: editing source code on touchscreens

Abstract

Despite widespread use of touch-enabled devices, the field of software development has only slowly adopted new interaction methods for available tools. In this paper, we present our research on RefactorPad, a code editor for editing and restructuring source code on touchscreens. Since entering and modifying code with on-screen keyboards is time-consuming, we have developed a set of gestures that take program syntax into account and support common maintenance tasks on devices such as tablets. This work presents three main contributions: 1) a test setup that enables researchers and participants to collaboratively walk through code examples in real-time; 2) the results of a user study on editing source code with both finger and pen gestures; 3) a list of operations and some design guidelines for creators of code editors or software development environments who wish to optimize their tools for touchscreens.