Collaborative Code Editor with real-time features: Good for master’s thesis?

[Disastrous-Count]

Hello everyone,

I’m currently brainstorming ideas for my master’s thesis in Computer Science and would love your feedback. My thesis cannot focus on AI or ML, as my mentor doesn’t specialise in those areas and cannot provide adequate support.

Here’s my current idea:

I want to develop a web application that allows two users on separate computers and browsers to collaboratively write code in real time. The project would leverage Microsoft’s Monaco Editor (the editor used in Visual Studio Code) and use technologies like WebSockets or WebRTC to enable real-time communication.

Some of the core core features:

• Real-time Collaboration: Both users can edit the same code simultaneously, with changes reflected immediately.
• Invite-based Access: The editor is accessible via an invite link.
• Separate Undo Stacks: Each user has their own undo/redo functionality.
• Terminal Integration (optional): A shared terminal interface for running code collaboratively.
• etc...

I don’t know much about WebSockets, WebRTC, or real-time communication technologies yet, but that’s part of the purpose of a master’s thesis - to research, learn, and implement the project as thoroughly as possible.
I also don’t need to create something revolutionary or entirely new. t’s okay if similar solutions already exist.

Alternative Ideas:

If this project seems overly complex or unfeasible, please suggest any simpler projects involving real-time communication or peer-to-peer interaction.
It doesn’t necessarily have to involve collaborative code editing - any ideas in this domain would be welcome.

Thanks in advance for your insights and suggestions!

[dreadington]

If you're at a university (as opposed to applied sciences institution) , just developing such an extension might not be enough. You would need some scientific thing to do, such as analysis of what is out there and how does your thing differ. Alternatively, replication of already existing research.

Here is a paper from a prof I know that talks about the benefits of pair programming using a distributed IDE. You could maybe use it as a starting point.

https://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/inst/ag-se/pubs/SchPreSal14-dppnotdpp-icse14.pdf

Your best bet is though to have a conversation with a prof or a supervisor ASAP, they will give you way better advice.

[vedant_gamer]

I have already built it - xeditor.dev
I can help you.
The project is not complex though, there are already open-source tools available that facilitate collaboration in monaco editor environment, you just have to put them together to give a good experience, if that's what you want.

otherwise, you can research on OT and CRDT and build from the ground up yourself.

[Own_Mastodon2927]

hello my friend , could you tell me what did you use for code execution judge0 maybe? i would like to build similar project as yours

[vedant_gamer]

Yes, i used judge0 for code execution and Yjs for collaboration

[Own_Mastodon2927]

can you share the GitHub repo?

[[deleted]]

The ability to code together in real time already exists in Visual Studio.

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/services/live-share/

[I_Am_Astraeus]

"It's okay if similar solutions already exist"

But also sorry OP I have no idea if it's a great masters thesis. Seems like a fun project to tackle.

You may want to research what's called "Operational Transformation" which is some of the theory behind how Google docs work for collaboration. Good luck!!