Skip to main content

Interactive Object Graphs for Debuggers with Improved Visualization, Inspection and Configuration Features

  • Conference paper
Advances in Visual Computing (ISVC 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNIP,volume 6938))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 2616 Accesses

Abstract

Debugging as a process involves the examination of the runtime state of objects in order to identify potential defects and the way they are actually propagated among objects (infection). Interactive tools improved the overall conduct of the process by enabling users more efficiently and effectively track down state faults. But as systems grow, the runtime state of programs explodes to encompass a huge number of objects. The later requires state inspection following runtime object associations, thus involving graph views. Existing graph visualizers are not popular because they are mostly visualization than interaction oriented, implementing general-purpose graph drawing algorithms. The latter explains why prominent development environments still adopt traditional tree views. We introduce a debugging assistant with a visualization technique designed to better fit the task of defect detection in runtime object networks, also supporting advanced inspection and configuration features.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Aftandilian, E., Kelley, S., Gramazio, C., Ricci, N., Su, S., Guyer, S.: Heapviz: Interactive Heap Visualization for Program Understanding and Debugging. In: ACM SoftVis 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 25-26, pp. 53–62 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Battista, D.G., Eades, P., Tamassia, R., Tollis, I.G.: Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1999)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. De Pauw, W., Sevitsky, G.: Visualizing Reference Patterns for Solving Memory Leaks in Java. In: Liu, H. (ed.) ECOOP 1999. LNCS, vol. 1628, pp. 116–134. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Gansner, E., North, S.C.: An open graph visualization system and its applications to software engineering. Software Practice & Experience 30(11), 1203–1233 (1999)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. GNU DDD (2009). Data Display Debugger (version 3.3), http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/

  6. Hill, T., Noble, J., Potter, J.: Scalable Visualizations of Object-Oriented Systems with Ownership Trees. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing 13, 319–339 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kranzlmuller, D., Grabner, S., Volkert, J.: Event Graph Visualization for Debugging Large Applications. In: Proceedings of ACM SPDT 1996, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 108–117 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lange, D.B., Nakamura, Y.: Object-oriented program tracing and visualization. IEEE Computer 30(5), 63–70 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Müller, T.: Practical Investigation of Constraints with Graph Views. In: Dechter, R. (ed.) CP 2000. LNCS, vol. 1894, pp. 320–336. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Reiss, S.: Visualizing the Java heap to detect memory problems. In: Proceedings of VISSOFT 2009 5th IEEE International Workshop on Visualizing Software for Understanding and Analysis, pp. 73–80 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Savidis, A.: Delta Programming Language. Official web site (2010), http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/files/plang/Delta/Delta.html

  12. Savidis, A., Lilis, Y.: Support for Language Independent Browsing of Aggregate Values by Debugger Backends. Journal of Object Technology 8(6), 159–180 (2009), http://www.jot.fm/issues/issue_2009_09/article4.pdf

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Yi, J. S., Kang, Y., Stasko, J., Jacko, J.: Understanding and Characterizing Insights: How Do People Gain Insights Using Information Visualization? In: ACM BELIV 2008, Florence, Italy, pp. 1–6 (April 5, 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Zeller, A.: Why Programs Fail: A Guide to Systematic Debugging. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zimmermann, T., Zeller, A.: Visualizing memory graphs. In: Diehl, S. (ed.) Dagstuhl Seminar 2001. LNCS, vol. 2269, pp. 191–204. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Savidis, A., Koutsopoulos, N. (2011). Interactive Object Graphs for Debuggers with Improved Visualization, Inspection and Configuration Features. In: Bebis, G., et al. Advances in Visual Computing. ISVC 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6938. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24028-7_24

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24028-7_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24027-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24028-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics