visualizing dynamic software system information through high-level models
Dynamic information collected as a software system executes can help software engineers perform some tasks on a system more effectively. To interpret the sizable amount of data generated from a system's execution, engineers require tool support. We have developed an off-line, flexible approach for visualizing the operation of an object-oriented system at the architectural level. This approach complements and extends existing profiling and visualization approaches available to engineers attempting to utilize dynamic information. In this paper, we describe the technique and discuss preliminary qualitative studies into its usefulness and usability. These studies were undertaken in the context of performance tuning tasks.
visualization dynamic software systems informal model help software engineering performance data flexibility object-oriented architecture profiles paper qualitative studies use usability context performance tuning program comprehension software visualization software structure programming environments execution trace tool-support