1. A navigation-independent system for accessing the elements of a software integrated development environment (IDE) using uniform resource locators (URLs) comprising: a set of URL-accessible IDE elements representing a plurality of functional objects within a software IDE, wherein each URL-accessible IDE element includes a set of meta data containing key words that describe the URL-retrievable IDE element; a set of URLs that provide navigation-independent mechanisms to access the set of URL-accessible IDE elements within the software IDE; and a URL operation tool configured to associate the set of URLs with the set of URL-accessible IDE elements and execute a set of user-selectable URL operations upon the set of URL-accessible IDE elements within the software IDE.