JQuery: A Generic Code Browser with a Declarative Configuration Language

Modern IDEs have an open-ended plugin architecture to allow customizability. However, developing a plugin is costly in terms of effort and expertise required by the customizer. We present a two-pronged approach that allows for open-ended customizations while keeping the customization cost low. First, we explicitly limit the portion of the design space targeted by the configuration mechanism. This reduces customization cost by simplifying the configuration interface. Second, we use a declarative programming language as our configuration language. This facilitates open-ended specification of behavior without burdening the user with operational details. keywords: integrated development environment, program database, domain-specific language, logic programming.