Towards IDE support for abstract thinking

Abstract

Abstract thinking is considered to be a high level cognitive skill that enables a comprehensive understanding of a specific concept or a problem using different levels of detailing. Based on a lab activity we conducted on the matter of abstraction, we present guidelines for enabling an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to promote abstract thinking. The guidelines are defined in the context of an Aspect-Oriented Process Support (AOPS) framework that aims at customizing IDEs to automatically support various software development practices. Specifically, we suggest two kinds of guidelines. The first is concerned with a positive feedback from the IDE in cases where abstraction is used. The second kind is concerned with cases in which the developer is encouraged to move to a different level of detailing, that is, promoted to use abstract thinking. © 2008 ACM.