We propose a tool to support integrators in taking decisions about the integration of changes before performing the actual merging, and to support developers to understand and control their changes before publishing them. Torch is a software visualization tool that provides an overview of how a Smalltalk program was changed, and that aims at aiding its user in understanding these changes. Torch characterizes the changes based on structural information, authors and symbolic information. It offers a dashboard that presents different structural representations of changes using visualizations. We have integrated Torch with the Monticello versioning system.
My name is Verónica Uquillas. I am an ecuadorian PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and at the University of Lille in France, as part of an inter-university doctorate. I was introduced to Smalltalk while I was doing my Computer Engineering program in Ecuador. For 4 years I was employed as a full-time developer of the computer center in my home university using VisualAge for Smalltalk. After that I worked in different software projects and in the academia for 4 more years. My wishes to pursue postgraduate studies brought me to Belgium where I did my master program. I developed my master thesis in VisualWorks Smalltalk and it was the beginning of my research journey. Currently I am using Pharo as part of my doctoral thesis, and working with two devoted smalltalkers as advisors, Theo D'Hondt and Stéphane Ducasse.