Analyzing feature implementation by visual exploration of architecturally-embedded call-graphs

  • Authors:

  • Johannes Bohnet;Jürgen Döllner

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany;University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2006 international workshop on Dynamic systems analysis
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Maintenance, reengineering, and refactoring of large and complex software systems are commonly based on modifications and enhancements related to features. Before developers can modify feature functionality they have to locate the relevant code components and understand the components' interaction. In this paper, we present a prototype tool for analyzing feature implementation of large C/C++ software systems by visual exploration of dynamically extracted call relations between code components. The component interaction can be analyzed on various abstraction levels ranging from function interaction up to interaction of the system with shared libraries of the operating system. The user visually explores the component interaction within a multiview visualization system consisting of various textual and a graphical 3D landscape view. During exploration the 3D landscape view supports the user firstly in deciding early whether a call relation is essential for understanding the feature and, secondly, in finding starting points for fine-grained feature analysis using a top-down approach.