The CodeTrails GmbH was the first entity to use the ideas behind Big Data and apply those ideas to software engineering. In the CodeTrails approach, millions of lines of code were automatically analyzed and the specific bits of code relevant for human developers were extracted. By doing this CodeTrails was able to point out solutions to developers through the automatic identification of common patterns that show how other developers have solved a similar problem before. CodeTrails matched the task or problem at hand to the developer, so they had to spend less time to search through code, documentation, or the Web. Beyond that the tools of CodeTrails supported not only knowledge transfer but also software quality assurance by highlighting characteristic patterns of problems and bugs which deviate from patterns of correct code. With the acquisition of the CodeTrails GmbH by JetBrains this approach was integrated and lives on as part of JetBrains’ service portfolio.
funded by BMWK via EXIST Forschungstransfer (2012 - 2014)
acquired by JetBrains (2021)