Toward the Development of Highly Interactive Software Visualization Systems: A User-Centered Approach

Abstract

Introduction Predicated on the intuitive idea that a mapping between an executing program and computer graphics can give one insight into the programs dynamic behavior, software visualization (SV) systems purport to provide techniques for facilitating four central activities involving that mapping: its (1) design, (2) specification, (3) observation, and (4) manipulation. Early SV systems such as Balsa (Brown 1987) and Tango (Stasko 1990) defined conceptual models in which different actors performed those activities.. In the Balsa model, for example, client programmers--- algorithmaticians and animators---were responsible for designing and specifying the algorithm-to-graphics mapping, whereas the end users---script authors and script viewers---actually observed the mappings (see Figure 1). Although, in theory, the same person could have assumed all four roles, in practice they were