Application of hierarchy analysis for comparing text editors

Abstract

Problem. As of today, there is no methodology for comparing text editors designed to work with text files interactively. To compare different text editors with each other it is proposed to use the method of hierarchy analysis. The latest, by means of simple and well-founded rules, provides for solving multicriteria problems, which contain qualitative and quantitative factors of different dimensionality. The aim of the work is to develop a procedure for comparing different text editors using the method of hierarchy analysis. Methodology. We compared 5 text editors that are commonly used for website development – Komodo Edit, Bluefish Editor, Emacs, Brackets, Visual Studio Code. For comparison 10 functionalities were chosen: programming language support, highlighting – selection of syntactical text constructions with different colors, fonts and underlines; spell checking; possibility of remote work with files, macros – actions or set of actions that can be executed many times; possibility of extension – program component that adds certain function to existing computer program; availability of console window for work in text editor. For each of the criteria, the editors were rated from 1 to 5 points. The results of the comparison were listed in a table. For calculations and structuring the information, the table was converted into a matrix. The priority of each individual object in the hierarchy is determined by the evaluation of the corresponding normalized eigenvector of this matrix. All elements of each row are summed up and normalized by dividing each sum by the sum of all products of matrix row elements. The first element of the resulting vector will be the priority of the first object, the second of the second, etc. After that, the total sum of all products of each row of the probability matrix is calculated. Results. Visual Studio Code showed the best score after calculations. Brackets had the second-best result, which can be productively used for many tasks. The MAI approach has been further developed by applying it to the comparison of text editors, allowing an effective decision to make their choice. The recommended comparison procedure can be automated, the number of compared objects and comparison criteria is significantly increased. Originality. A method of comparing different software editors by hierarchy analysis has been developed. Practical value. The proposed methodology can be automated and applied to compare different applications, and the number of objects and their comparison criteria can be significantly increased.