Dependence cluster visualization

Large clusters of mutual dependence have long been regarded as a problem impeding comprehension, testing, maintenance, and reverse engineering. An effective visualization can aid an engineer in addressing the presence of large clusters. Such a visualization is presented. It allows a program's dependence clusters to be considm an abstract high level down thru a concrete source-level. ighest level of abstraction, the visualization uses a heat-map (a color scheme) to efficiently overview the clusters found in an entire system. Other levels include three source code views that allow a user to "zoom" in on the clusters starting from the high-level system view, down through a file view, and then onto the actual source code where each cluster can be studied in detail. Also presented are two case studies, the first is the open-source calculator bc and the second is the industrial program copia, which performs signal processing. The studies consider qualitative evaluations of th...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: SOFTVIS
• Authors: Syed S. Islam, Jens Krinke, David Binkley
• Keywords: Large Clusters, Reverse Engineering, SOFTVIS 2010, Source Code, Visualization