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Download fileVisualising Software as a Particle System
conference contribution
posted on 2015-08-18, 10:08 authored by Simon Scarle, Neil WalkinshawCurrent metrics-based approaches to visualise un-
familiar software systems face two key limitations: (1) They
are limited in terms of the number of dimensions that can
be projected, and (2) they use fixed layout algorithms where
the resulting positions of entities can be vulnerable to mis-
interpretation. In this paper we show how computer games
technology can be used to address these problems. We present
the PhysVis software exploration system, where software metrics
can be variably mapped to parameters of a physical model and
displayed via a particle system. Entities can be imbued with
attributes such as mass, gravity, and (for relationships) strength
or springiness, alongside traditional attributes such as position,
colour and size. The resulting visualisation is a dynamic scene;
the relative positions of entities are not determined by a fixed
layout algorithm, but by intuitive physical notions such as gravity,
mass, and drag. The implementation is openly available, and we
evaluate it on a selection of visualisation tasks for two openly-
available software systems.
History
Citation
Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Visualization (VISSOFT'15), September 27-28, 2015, Bremen, GermanyAuthor affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Computer ScienceSource
The 3rd IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization (co-located with the International Conference on Software Maintenance ICSM 2015), (VISSOFT'15) September 27-28, 2015, Bremen, Germany.Version
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)