Visual comparison of software architectures

Reverse engineering methods produce different descriptions of software architectures. In this work we analyze and define the task of exploring and comparing these descriptions. We present a novel visualization technique to compare architectures based on the decomposition of the software system and on the dependencies among the code entities. A case study related to software clustering shows how we can apply this technique in practice. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.m [Information Systems]: Information Interfaces and Presentation General Terms Design Keywords software architecture, hierarchy comparison, graph visualization Note. This paper makes heavy use of colors. Please read a colored version of this paper to better understand the ideas presented.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: SOFTVIS
• Authors: Fabian Beck, Stephan Diehl
• Keywords: Graph Visualization Note, Keywords Software Architecture, SOFTVIS 2010, Software Architecture, Visualization