The IMPROV Meta-Tool Design Methodology for Visualization of Parallel Programs
Thomas L. Casavant, James Arthur Kohl · 1993
A design methodology is presented that simplifies the creation of program visualization tools while maintaining a high degree of flexibility and expressive power. The approach is based on a circulation architecture model that organizes the details of the user specification, and provides a formal means for indicating relationships. The overall user specification is divided into independent modules containing distinct, welldefined entities, and the relationships among these module entities are identified using a powerful mapping language. This language maps conditions on entities to manipulations that modify entities, resulting in dynamic animations of program behavior. The mapping language supports arbitrary levels of abstraction providing a full range of detail, and allowing efficient view development. To demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of this approach, a specific program visualization meta-tool design, IMPROV, is described. Keywords: program visualization, software engine...