Patent ID: 9652359
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a source code representation of a collection of source code, the source code having an annotation attached to a particular source code element in the source code, wherein the annotation comprises structured metadata for the particular source code element in the source code; identifying a first key of the particular source code element, the first key uniquely distinguishing the particular source code element from other source code elements in the collection of source code; determining how many annotations are attached to the particular source code element; generating an index for the annotation, the index representing a position of the annotation in an order of all annotations attached to the particular source code element; generating a natural key for the annotation including combining structural delimiters surrounding the first key of the particular source code element with a semantic tag for annotations, wherein the semantic tag includes the index for the annotation; and generating, in a database, a data entry for the annotation, the data entry having the natural key for the annotation.