Basic HyperCode is a powerful tool for comprehending program source code. By providing links between function, type, variable, and macro uses and definitions, HyperCode creates an explicit representation of program structure, a representation previously only implied by the combination of the files composing a program and the series of instructions for processing them. This explicit representation greatly assists human comprehension of unfamiliar source code, and in some cases enables complex automated manipulation of segments of code.
Although the basic ideas behind HyperCode can be extended to any programming language, our focus in this section will be on HyperCode as it applies to the C programming language.