Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Testing or debugging
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-04
2004-02-24
Ingberg, Todd (Department: 2124)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Testing or debugging
C717S101000, C717S120000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698013
ABSTRACT:
MICROFICHE REFERENCE
Microfiche Appendix 1, pages 1-43 is attached hereto and contains a sample computer readable code for implementing various aspects of this invention. One skilled in the art can practice these aspects by reviewing the computer readable code sample in Appendix 1. Appendix 1 is a part of the present disclosure and is fully incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer software and, more specifically, to a method and system for monitoring and recording user actions and events that occur during development and maintenance of source code and related data in a software application. In certain embodiments, system features facilitate the maintenance and development of software code by providing an efficient editing environment.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is for the purpose of providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of this invention to material strictly associated with such marks.
2. Background Art
Until fairly recently, the general public was relatively unaware of the importance of and the problems associated with software maintenance. In the past years, the highly controversial millennium bug (also known as the Y2K bug) brought issues related to software maintenance to the center of the public's attention. Due to time and economic limitations associated with the development of software, a software developer may not have the luxury or the foresight to predict all events and changes that may affect the performance of the software after its release. Thus, software applications need to be updated, maintained, and reconfigured continuously to meet newly developed technological advances and social needs.
In addition to the knowledge and background of the individual maintaining and developing a software application, maintenance of the software application is highly dependent on the quality of the application and also on the detailed documentation of the various portions of the code or other data that composes the software as a whole. While there are methods available to a software developer to describe the functionality of each code segment or reasons for modifying the code, typically, software developers do not exercise such degree of care because of the time constraints associated with the maintenance and development of software applications. Lack of diligence in adequately documenting computer readable code can lead to development of a complex software product, that includes thousands of lines of code, and that is difficult to maintain because of inadequate documentation. Unfortunately, some computer applications are incomprehensible even to the people who wrote them in the first place, not to mention the people who work on the application, years later over the life of the application.
To illustrate how difficult it is to understand and maintain a software application that does not include proper documentation, it is noteworthy to quote Mr. Alan Greenspan, the current Chairman of the Federal Board of Reserve and Federal Open Market Committee. During his testimony to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee in May 1998, about the Y2K problem, Mr. Greenspan stated “I know how complex some of the problems are because I was one of those people who wrote some of the programs, which are creating the problems today. I know that I did not document them in the way in which even I, if I were to see the programs today, could figure out what was done.”
Many software programs written as far back as thirty years ago are still being used and maintained by major businesses and corporations. Much time and money is and has been expended by many businesses to determine changes made to software applications over the years by various computer programmers. It would be beneficial to a programmer who maintains computer readable code to have the advantage of knowing, with certainty and detail, the changes that have been previously made to the code and reasons for such changes. Further, because, typically, a substantial amount of time is spent to review and modify computer readable code, it is desirable to record the time spent by different people on different parts of the code for billing and accounting purposes. Currently available systems are inadequate to accomplish the above objectives because they are overly manual, time intensive, and fail to provide a programmer with sufficiently detailed information. They further lack advanced commenting, reporting or time tracking features.
A method and apparatus is needed that can provide a software developer with the tools to track the development of a software application and to determine the changes and/or attempted changes to computer readable code in an efficient manner. Efficient commenting, time tracking, billing, and reporting features are also essential. This invention and its advantages and improvements over the prior art schemes will be better understood and appreciated after reviewing the following detailed description of the invention.
SUMMARY
The invention is directed, in one or more embodiments, to a method and system for documenting and tracking user actions and events that occur during creation, development, and modification of computer readable code (also referred to as source code). Features of the system facilitate the development and maintenance of computer readable code. User actions and events, including editing modifications, are detected and recorded in detail in a controlled environment by monitoring user interaction with the source code. In addition, the nature and context of changes made to the source code are detected and recorded when the point of focus in the source code changes from one position to another. The point of focus is a controlled point in the source code that changes position as a result of user interaction with the system.
In certain embodiments, detected user actions and modifications in lines of code are recorded in a transaction log. A transaction log is, typically, an electronic file or other data structure made up of series of entries (i.e., records), where an entry includes information about a user action, event, or modification in the source code. A record in the transaction log may be implemented physically across multiple databases or data management structures. Source code for a computer system can be contained in one or more code modules. Typically, one or more records or entries in the transaction log correspond to at least one line in the code module that is modified. In some embodiments, other data structures (e.g., tables, arrays, etc.) are used to store, sort, or otherwise manage certain data entered by the user (e.g., search terms), or data already included in the source code (e.g., variable names, definitions, etc.).
In certain embodiments, the system monitors and records information relating to the identity of a user editing the code module, time and date the module was modified, amount of time spent by a user during modification, code module's project identification, and the points of focus at the time of modification. In some embodiments, user comments, the module's name, and its location of storage are recorded, as well.
Embodiments of the invention include certain reporting features. The reporting features are used to aggregate information recorded by the system and generate reports in print or on a display screen. These reporting features integrate with commercially available word processing and accounting software such as Microsoft Word®, Acess®
Bertero Anthony R.
Rosenberg Milton D.
Ingberg Todd
Mintaka Technology Group
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