DoodleDebug, Objects Should Sketch Themselves For Code Understanding
Niko Schwarz · BORIS (University Library Bern)
Developers override toString() and printOn: methods to allow objects to display themselves. This is done to track object state while debugging. Although very popular, the technique breaks down when displaying complex, multi-dimensional objects. We propose an approach in which objects have two-dimensional visualizations at various levels of granularity. This makes it easier to compose visualizations from object parts, and enables “semantic zooming ” of object visualizations while debugging. We have carried out an empirical study to understand how printOn: methods are used in practice, and we are developing DoodleDebug, a framework to support visualizable objects. 1.