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Concept
Class browser
Summary
A class browser is a feature of an integrated development environment (IDE) that allows the programmer to browse, navigate, or visualize the structure of object-oriented programming code.
Most modern class browsers owe their origins to Smalltalk, one of the earliest object-oriented languages and development environments. The typical Smalltalk "five-pane" browser is a series of horizontally-abutting selection panes positioned above an editing pane, the selection panes allow the user to specify first a category and then a class, and further to refine the selection to indicate a specific class- or instance-method the implementation of which is presented in the editing pane for inspection or modification.
Most succeeding object-oriented languages differed from Smalltalk in that they were compiled and executed in a discrete runtime environment, rather than being dynamically integrated into a monolithic system like the early Smalltalk environments. Nevertheless, the concept of a table-like or graphic browser to navigate a class hierarchy caught on.
With the popularity of C++ starting in the late-1980s, modern IDEs added class browsers, at first to simply navigate class hierarchies, and later to aid in the creation of new classes. With the introduction of Java in the mid-1990s class browsers became an expected part of any graphic development environment.
All major development environments supply some manner of class browser, including
Apple Xcode for macOS
Cincom Smalltalk
CodeWarrior for Microsoft Windows, classic Mac OS, and embedded systems
Dolphin Smalltalk
Eclipse
Embarcadero Delphi
Embarcadero JBuilder
IBM WebSphere
IntelliJ IDEA
KDevelop
Microsoft Visual Studio
NetBeans
Pharo Smalltalk
Red Gate .NET Reflector
Smalltalk MT
Squeak Smalltalk
Step Ahead Javelin
Strongtalk
Visual Prolog
Visual Smalltalk Enterprise
Zeus for Windows IDE
Modern class browsers fall into three general categories: the columnar browsers, the outline browsers, and the diagram browsers.
Official source
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