Locating software units of a software module to facilitate software refactoring

摘要

Disclosed is a method of locating program code units (206), e.g. folders or source code files, stored on data storage (600). The method includes defining a software module fragment (212) by assigning a software module fragment label (e.g. metadata) to selected program code units; creating a module fragment list (e.g. a logical or functional search path (210)) defining a software module, the list comprising a set of said fragments; receiving 410 a request to retrieve the program code units of a specified software module from the digital data storage; and converting 440 the module fragment list into a list of physical locations (i.e. a physical search path or build path) of the corresponding code units using the labels. The conversion step 440 includes searching 430 the data storage for code units, based on the labels. A label added to a program code unit identifies the software module fragment to which it belongs so that the unit may be seen as declaring itself as forming part of the fragment. Even if a program code unit is relocated, refactored or renamed a compiler can still recognise it as part of a fragment by virtue of the label.