ABSTRACT
Java developers make extensive use of code annotations since
their introduction in version 5 of the language. They are
inserted directly on the source code for custom metadata configuration,
similar to C# attributes. The software engineering
community has few works investigating their usage and impact
on source code. Being able to visualize characteristics of
code annotations might aid developers in detecting potential
misuse, outliers as well as increase the comprehensibility and
readability of the source code. In this paper, we present an
approach to use software metrics to generate a 2D polymetric
view targeting the visualization of code annotations in Java
classes. We developed a prototype tool using the Unity Game
Engine. It displays classes and packages as rectangles and
annotations as circles. We demonstrated the tool with a small
sample Java program.