CVSscan: visualization of code evolution

During the life cycle of a software system, the source code is changed many times. We study how developers can be enabled to get insight in these changes, in order to understand the status, history and structure better, as well as for instance the roles played by various contributors. We present CVSscan, an integrated multiview environment for this. Central is a lineoriented display of the changing code, where each version is represented by a column, and where the horizontal direction is used for time, Separate linked displays show various metrics, as well as the source code itself. A large variety of options is provided to visualize a number of different aspects. Informal user studies demonstrate the efficiency of this approach for real world use cases. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.2[Software Engineering]: Design Tools and Techniques; D.2.7[Software Engineering]: Maintenance, Enhancement; H.5.2[User Interfaces]: Evaluation, Methodology; General Terms Management, Documentati...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: SOFTVIS
• Authors: Lucian Voinea, Alexandru Telea, Jarke J. van Wijk
• Keywords: Integrated Multiview Environment, Separate Linked Displays, SOFTVIS 2005, Source Code