A framework for the automatic generation of algorithm animations based on design techniques

  • Authors:

  • Luis Fernández-Muñoz;Antonio Pérez-Carrasco;J. Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide;Jaime Urquiza-Fuentes

  • Affiliations:

  • Departamento de Lenguajes, Proyectos y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain;Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain;Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

  • Venue:
  • EC-TEL'07 Proceedings of the Second European conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: creating new learning experiences on a global scale
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

A novel approach to algorithm animation consists in displaying algorithms based on their design technique. In this paper, we describe a framework to generate these animations without effort from the instructor. We describe a preprocessing phase that modifies the source code of the algorithm to visualize. When the transformed code is executed, a trace is stored and then used to generate an animation. We also describe the architecture of the animation subsystem. Finally, we outline the main features of SRec, a system that we have built to illustrate the feasibility of this approach. It is aimed at visualizing multiple views of recursion, namely traces, the control stack and activation trees.