Change estimation in version control system

Abstract

The estimation and visualization of a degree of change between a further edited state of code and a selected version of the code. For each of some counted added or deleted portions (e.g., code lines) of code, the system estimates that the added (or deleted) portion complies with a non-review characteristic. The added (or deleted) code lines that comply with a non-review characteristic are excluded from the estimation of the degree of change. Thus, the estimation excludes consideration of added or deleted portions that need no substantial review, while considering more substantial added or deleted portions in the estimations. The estimation is then visualize giving the developer or the reviewer a better idea of the scale of changes that has really been made since the selected version of the code.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 providing a version control system that permits each of multiple versions of code under development to be selected by a developer, the version control system further configured to count added or deleted portions of code from a further edited state of the code and a selected version of the code;   a change estimation component configured to estimate a degree of change between the further edited state of the code and the selected version of the code; and   causing a visualization of the estimated degree of change to be displayed in association with the further edited state of the code.   
     
     
         2 . The method in accordance with  claim 1 , the computing system being a computing system used by a developer to select the selected version of the code, and to create the further edited state of the code from the selected version of the code. 
     
     
         3 . The method in accordance with  claim 1 , the method further including estimating the degree of change by excluding at least any added or deleted portions that comply with a non-review characteristic. 
     
     
         4 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , wherein the non-review characteristic is specified by the developer. 
     
     
         5 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , the computing system being a computing system used by a reviewer to review the further edited state of the code as a candidate next version of the code and wherein the non-review characteristic is specified by the reviewer. 
     
     
         6 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , the non-review characteristic being that the added portion is an automatically added portion. 
     
     
         7 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , the version control system configured to count the added portions on a granularity of a line of code, such that the counted added portions are counted added lines. 
     
     
         8 . The method in accordance with  claim 7 , the non-review characteristic being that the added line is a comment line. 
     
     
         9 . The method in accordance with  claim 7 , the non-review characteristic being that the added line is a blank line. 
     
     
         10 . The method in accordance with  claim 7 , the non-review characteristic being that the added line is caused by a strict splitting of a prior line into multiple lines. 
     
     
         11 . The method in accordance with  claim 7 , the non-review characteristic being that the added line is syntactically identical to a deleted line at the same position. 
     
     
         12 . The method in accordance with  claim 1 , the version control system configured to count the added or deleted portions on a granularity of a word, such that any counted added portions are counted as added words and such that any counted deleted portions are counted as deleted words. 
     
     
         13 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , the estimating that the added portion complies with a non-review characteristic comprising estimating that the added portion complies with any one of a plurality of non-review characteristics, the estimation of the degree of change being made by excluding at least the added portions that comply with any of the non-review characteristics. 
     
     
         14 . The method in accordance with  claim 3 , the change estimation component being configured to estimate the degree of change between the further edited state of the code and the selected version of the code by at least, for each of one or more counted deleted portions counted by the version control system since the selected version by the version control system, estimating that the deleted portion complies with a non-review characteristic, the estimation of the degree of change being made by also excluding at least the deleted portions that comply with the non-review characteristic. 
     
     
         15 . The method in accordance with  claim 14 , the version control system configured to count deleted portions on a granularity of a line of code, such that the counted deleted portions are counted deleted lines. 
     
     
         16 . The method in accordance with  claim 15 , the non-review characteristic for a deleted line of code being that the deleted line is a comment line. 
     
     
         17 . The method in accordance with  claim 15 , the non-review characteristic for a deleted line of code being that the deleted line is a blank line. 
     
     
         18 . The method in accordance with  claim 15 , the non-review characteristic for a deleted line of code being a strict combination of multiple previous line of code. 
     
     
         19 . A computing system comprising:
 one or more processors;   a version control system that permits each of multiple versions of code under development to be selected by a developer, the version control system further configured to count added lines of code from a further edited state of the code and a selected version of the code; and   one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such so as to configure the developer computing system to perform the following:
 for each of one or more counted added portions counted by the version control system since the selected version by the version control system, estimating that the added portion complies with a non-review characteristic, the estimation of the degree of change being made by excluding at least the added portions that comply with the non-review characteristic; and 
 causing a visualization of the estimated degree of change to be displayed in association with the further edited state of the code. 
   
     
     
         20 . A computing system comprising:
 one or more processors;   a version control system that permits each of multiple versions of code under development to be selected by a developer, the version control system further configured to count deleted lines of code from a further edited state of the code and a selected version of the code; and   one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such so as to configure the developer computing system to perform the following:
 for each of one or more counted deleted lines of code counted by the version control system since the selected version by the version control system, estimating that the deleted line complies with deleted line non-review characteristic, the estimation of the degree of change being made by excluding at least the at least the deleted lines that comply with the deleted line non-review characteristic; and 
 causing a visualization of the estimated degree of change to be displayed in association with the further edited state of the code.