Integrating Multiple Approaches for Interacting with Dynamic Data Structure Visualizations

Authors:
James H. Cross, II;T. Dean Hendrix;Larry A. Barowski
Affiliations:
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5437 USA;Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5437 USA;Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5437 USA
Venue:
Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS)
Year:
2009

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Abstract

jGRASP 1.8.7 has integrated three approaches for interacting with its dynamic viewers for data structures: the debugger, the workbench, and a new text-based interactions tab that allows individual Java statements to be executed and expressions to be evaluated. While each of these approaches is distinct and can be used independently of the others, they can also be used together to provide a complementary set of interactions with the dynamic viewers. In order to integrate these approaches, the jGRASP visual debugger, workbench, and viewers had to be significantly redesigned. During this process, the structure identifier, which provides for the identification and rendering of common data structures, was also greatly improved by examining the examples from 20 data structure textbooks. The overall result of this integration effort is a highly flexible approach for user interaction with the dynamic data structure visualizations generated by a robust structure identifier.