Syntactic Zoom-Out / Zoom-In Code with the Athenizer

Abstract

Care and great e.ort are often taken to dress program code of libraries, just as model implementations, in its most presentable form, which includes adherence to strict coding standards, careful selection of identifiers, avoiding unnecessary constructs, etc. However, a presentable dress is not a janitor's uniform and is often inferior to the more lax working outfit.The spartanizer is a tool that brings Java code into a canonical, short form. Trying to say the most with the fewest words. In contrast, the athenizer is a tool that expands the code, placing it in a more maintainable form, using plenty of auxiliary variables, many potential locations for breakpoints and for change.The tool reported on here allows developers to interactively use their joystick and its buttons for code navigation, and in particular for zooming-in into the code (athenizing) and zooming-out of it (spartanizing).