A code browser is an editor, sometimes with
folding or other advanced layout capabilities, designed to structure
source code or, by extension, other kinds of
text file. Since it is typically aware of the syntax (and, to some extent, the semantics) of the text it is displaying, it is able to use various techniques to make navigation and cross-referencing faster and easier; this allows it to present a good overview of the code of large projects.
An editor of this type is positioned between a traditional text editor, a
Smalltalk
Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed reflective programming language. It was designed and created in part for educational use, specifically for constructionist learning, at the Learning Research Group (LRG) of Xerox PARC by Alan Ka ...
class browser and
a
web browser such as Mozilla. It displays a structured text file (marker-based folding) hierarchically, sometimes using multiple panes. A code browser usually supports
syntax highlighting for major languages, and frequently allows users to define highlighting schemes for other files relevant to their activities; in some cases it may also integrate the output of other programs such as
gdb.
Although code browsers were initially designed to edit programs, they can also be used for different tasks such as plain text outlining or helping to understand existing source code.
References
Tibleiz ReviewCoding & Development
Source code
Text editor features
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