http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/pubs/Henley2018bDissertation.pd...
FWIW, for those interested, there's some discussion of the "Code Bubbles" environment which allows arranging working sets on a canvas. (IDK if this falls under "limited canvas" or whatever).
I think a big part of why this hasn't caught on is that the benefits of a layout which maps to a mental model are _generally_ less than the cost of arranging things.
I think a big part of why this hasn't caught on is that the benefits of a layout which maps to a mental model are _generally_ less than the cost of arranging things.