Metadata-based software artifact search

One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause a computing system to perform a method of searching code segments, the method comprising:

• receiving a programming feature request comprising one or more programming feature criteria;
• searching a feature library for available programming features meeting the one or more programming feature criteria;
• responsive to the searching, receiving a set of available programming features from the feature library;
• displaying the set of available programming features from the feature library;
• receiving a selection of a target programming feature from the set of available programming features;
• obtaining a feature query stored in a feature metadata object of the target programming feature, wherein the feature query comprises one or more search criteria for identifying applications having the target programming feature;
• obtaining a feature query type via the feature metadata object of the target programming feature, wherein the feature query type at least in part identifies how to execute the feature query;
• executing the feature query against an application library to identify one or more applications having the target programming feature, wherein executing the feature query is based on the one or more search criteria and the feature query type;
• and
• displaying results of the executed feature query.

A system of application feature identification, the system comprising:

• one or more memories;
• one or more processing units coupled to the one or more memories;
• and
• one or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when loaded into the one or more memories, cause the one or more processing units to perform software artifact discovery operations comprising:
• receiving a request for available features of a feature library comprising one or more feature metadata objects respectively defining one or more available features;
• responsive to receiving the request, providing one or more feature identifiers of the available features of the feature library;
• receiving a selection of a target feature of the one or more available features, wherein the selection comprises a target feature identifier selected from the one or more feature identifiers;
• accessing a target feature metadata object in the feature library based on the target feature identifier from the received selection, wherein the target feature metadata object represents a software artifact encapsulating the target feature;
• retrieving a feature query from the target feature metadata object, wherein the feature query comprises one or more search criteria for identifying programming code sources having the software artifact encapsulating the target feature defined in the target feature metadata object;
• obtaining a feature query type via the target feature metadata object, wherein the feature query type at least in part identifies how to execute the feature query;
• executing the feature query based on the one or more search criteria and the feature query type against a programming code library having programming code sources;
• receiving results based on the executed search, wherein the results comprise programming code source identifiers identifying programming code sources having the software artifact encapsulating the target feature identified in the target feature metadata object;
• and
• providing the programming code source identifiers of the results of the executed search.