CodeGazer: Making Code Navigation Easy and Natural with Gaze Input

Navigating source code, an activity common in software development,is time consuming and in need of improvement. We present CodeGazer, a prototype for source code navigation using eye gaze for common navigation functions. These functions include actions such as “Go to Definition” and “Find All Usages” of an identifier, navigate to files and methods, move back and forth between visited points in code and scrolling. We present user study results showing that many users liked and even preferred the gaze-based navigation, in particular the “Go to Definition” function. Gaze-based navigation is also holding up well in completion time when compared to traditional methods. We discuss how eye gaze can be integrated into traditional mouse & keyboard applications in order to make “look up” tasks more natural.