JQuery-Based Refactorings as a Framework for Managing Java Annotations

This thesis aims to provide a solution to the problem of managing large numbers of Java 5 annotations. We introduce the idea of JQuery-based refactorings, which are essentially Eclipse Language Toolkit refactorings that take the results of a JQuery query as input. These refactorings are integrated with the JQuery user interface through two types of TyRuBa configuration predicates, one for refactorings that apply to an entire working set and the other for context-sensitive refactorings that apply to a user-selected set of code elements. By implementing JQuery-based refactorings for a number of usage scenarios and evaluating their ease of implementation and configuration, we aim to demonstrate that these refactorings provide a powerful and customizable framework for annotation manipulation.

(B.Sc. honours thesis.)