Abstract: A system and method for creating or editing software code comprising an in-line text editor element (“Smart Object”) that represents code, whereby users may edit the code represented by a Smart Object by editing the Smart Object. In various embodiments, tools for editing Smart Objects are located outside of a text editor; storage of Smart Objects may be handled automatically by an IDE without requiring a user to specify a file name or location; users may edit Smart Objects using a GUI; Smart Objects may represent code with nested Smart Objects; Smart Objects may add functionality to represented code; code represented by Smart Objects may be executed in isolation from the rest of an application's code; Smart Objects can be edited by interacting with executed code; executed code may be edited in real time by editing Smart Objects; and additional code can be added to the code represented by a Smart Object during compilation or execution of code.