Animated Visualization of Software History using Evolution Storyboards

The understanding of the structure of a software system can be improved by analyzing the system’s evolution during development. Visualizations of software history that provide only static views do not capture the dynamic nature of software evolution. We present a new visualization technique, the Evolution Storyboard, which provides dynamic views of the evolution of a software’s structure. An evolution storyboard consists of a sequence of animated panels, which highlight the structural changes in the system; one panel for each considered time period. Using storyboards, engineers can spot good design, signs of structural decay, or the spread of cross cutting concerns in the code. We implemented our concepts in a tool, which automatically extracts software dependency graphs from version control repositories and computes storyboards based on panels for different time periods. For applying our approach in practice, we provide a step by step guide that others can follow along the storyb...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: WCRE
• Authors: Dirk Beyer, Ahmed E. Hassan
• Keywords: Evolution Storyboard, Reverse Engineering, Software Systems, Static Views, WCRE 2006