Software:Sourcetrail
| Developer(s) | The Sourcetrail Development Team |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 2021.4.19
|
| Repository | github |
| Operating system | Multiplatform |
| Type | Software quality |
| License | GNU General Public License v3.0 |
Sourcetrail was a FOSS source code explorer that provided interactive dependency graphs and support for multiple programming languages including C, C++, Java and Python.[1]
History
The project was started by Eberhard Gräther after an internship at Google where he worked on Google Chrome, and noticed that he consumed a lot of time (1 month) to implement a simple feature that he expected to be done in 1–2 hours. This was his motivation to develop a tool that helps in understanding the consequences of source code modifications.[2] The project started as a commercial project in 2016 under the name Coati.[3] In November 2019, Sourcetrail was released as open-source software under version three of the GNU General Public License.[4]
The project was discontinued in 2021.[5]
Concept
Most of a programmer's time is invested in reading the source code.[6][7] Therefore, Sourcetrail was intended to help the developers to understand the source code and the relationship between different components. Sourcetrail builds a dependency graph after indexing the source code files and provides a graphical overview of the source code.
See also
References
- ↑ Krill, Paul (November 21, 2019). "Sourcetrail code navigator now free open source". https://www.infoworld.com/article/3454896/sourcetrail-code-navigator-now-free-open-source.html.
- ↑ "Why working on Chrome made me develop a tool for reading source code". 10 January 2017. https://medium.com/@egraether/why-working-on-chrome-made-me-develop-a-tool-for-reading-source-code-7111ba21a6f0.
- ↑ "Coati Release 0.6". https://sourcetrail.com/blog/release_0_6/.
- ↑ "Sourcetrail is now free and open-source software". https://sourcetrail.com/blog/open_source/.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20211115131149/https://www.sourcetrail.com/blog/discontinue_sourcetrail/ Blog post on discontinuing Sourcetrail.
- ↑ Goodreads. "Quote by Robert C. Martin". https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/835238-indeed-the-ratio-of-time-spent-reading-versus-writing-is. Retrieved 2026-04-06."Indeed, the ratio of time spent reading versus writing is well over 10 to 1. We are constantly reading old code as part of the effort to write new code. ...[Therefore,] making it easy to read makes it easier to write."
- ↑ "I Know What You Did Last Summer -- An Investigation of How Developers Spend Their Time". 2015. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293813040_I_Know_What_You_Did_Last_Summer_--_An_Investigation_of_How_Developers_Spend_Their_Time. Retrieved 2026-04-06. "Moreover, research shows that developers spend about 57-70% of their time understanding existing code, i.e., program comprehension"
External links
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