Modern "programmer" editors are getting smarter and smarter. It started with syntax highlighting, a great helper; then there are the "comment toys" such as code folding and autodocumenting (doxygen and similar). However, I am missing one feature - or maybe just I haven't come across it? This feature would probably help me with the following problem:

While writing source code for various mcu-based projects, I often find that there is a scheme which makes me crazy - for want of a better word I call ic cross-threading. There are nice self-contained routines over the whole source, but here and there there is a flag or a variable, which crosses the boundaries. As a trivial example, a flag gets set in an interrupt service routine and gets tested and reset in a subroutine of "main". Of course, the picture can be much more complicated; the flag or variabe can be manipulated directly or indirectly on muliple places and can have various consequences on the working of yet another parts.

There are some rules and constraints to accomplish this safely. Also, the flag/variable gets defined somewhere and perhaps initialized; all of this has to be "in sych".

When the flag/variable in question or some surrounding piece of program has to be modified, one usually has to search for each occurence of the flag/variable and recall the "rules"; or has to maintain and upgrade a "help" at a suitable place (I keep it next to the the flag/variable declaration). It involves moving through multiple files and writing a lot to keep it up to date. Sometimes there is a lot of writing and it messes up with the declarations themselves.

My idea would be to have a sort of a hyperlink/anchor for each such cross-threaded flag/variable, which would link to a document on the flag/variable or a part of the sources relevant to it (in my case, the declaration); for backward compatibility again as some special form of the comment. The editor can then maintain a collection of anchors related to a particular variable and offer it immediately together with the "document" e.g. in a separate window upon clicking on the variable name; no hassle with multi-file searching. It can have also impact on the resulting documentation, of course; the details could be worked out.

Has anybody seen something similar or is it a new idea (the latter I somehow doubt)?

Jan Waclawek