Redprint: Integrating API specific "instant example" and "instant documentation" display interface in IDEs

TL;DR

Redprint is a browser-based IDE for PHP that integrates instant API examples and documentation, significantly reducing search time and improving development efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated interface in IDEs that provides instant API examples and documentation, enhancing developer productivity.

Findings

Redprint reduces API search time by a significant margin.

Integrated interfaces improve coding efficiency for both novices and experts.

Laboratory study confirms the effectiveness of Redprint in real development scenarios.

Abstract

Software libraries for most of the modern programming languages are numerous, large and complex. Remembering the syntax and usage of APIs is a difficult task for not just novices but also expert programmers. IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) provide capabilities like autocomplete and intellisense to assist programmers; however, programmers still need to visit search engines like Google to find API (Application Program Interface) documentation and samples. This paper evaluates Redprint - a browser based development environment for PHP that integrates API specific "Instant Example" and "Instant Documentation" display interfaces. A comparative laboratory study shows that integrating API specific "Instant Example" and "Instant Documentation" display interfaces into a development environment significantly reduces the cost of searching and thus significantly reduces the time to develop software.