CrocoCosmos - Visualization of Object-Oriented Programs

Software Systems Engineering Research Group
Department of Computer Science
BTU Cottbus

Objective

Three-dimensional visualization of structural and metrics information of large object-oriented programs for comprehension and quality assessment.

Examples

• See the Graph Drawing page for more information about graph layouts in CrocoCosmos.
• 2D visualizations from the analysis of an object-oriented framework (see [7]).
• A large inheritance graph (VRML file, 308 kByte).
  The graph has 474 nodes and 709 edges. The layout was produced using the 8-PolyLog energy model (see [7]), which strongly enforces uniform edge lengths. Each sphere represents a class. The color of each sphere represents the subsystem that contains the corresponding class. Each line represents an inheritance relation between two classes, with the subclass at the blue end and the superclass at the yellow end of the line.
• Reference graph of a program with well-separated components (VRML file, 349 kByte).
  The visualization shows a program that consists of several components that communicate only through a central component (in fact, only through one central class) after utility classes have been removed. The graph has 382 nodes and 891 edges. The layout was produced using the Fruchterman-Reingold energy model. Each sphere represents a class. The color of each sphere represents the subsystem that contains the corresponding class. Each red-cyan line represents a method call relation between two classes, each blue-yellow line represents an inheritance relation, and each green-magenta line represents an attribute use.

Publications

[7] Lewerentz, Claus; Noack, Andreas. CrocoCosmos - 3D Visualization of Large Object-Oriented Programs. In Michael Jünger, Petra Mutzel (editors): Graph Drawing Software, pages 279-297. © Springer-Verlag, 2003.

[6] Lewerentz, Claus; Simon, Frank. Metrics-based 3D Visualization of Large Object-Oriented Programs. In Proceedings of the First IEEE International Workshop on Visualizing Software for Understanding and Analysis (VISSOFT 2002), pages 70 - 77, © IEEE Computer Society, 2002

[5] Lewerentz, Claus; Simon, Frank; Steinbrückner, Frank. CrocoCosmos. In Petra Mutzel, Michael Jünger, Sebastian Leipert (Eds.): Graph Drawing. 9th International Symposium, GD 2001. Vienna, Austria, September 2001. LNCS 2265, pages 446 - 447, © Springer-Verlag, 2002

[4] Simon, Frank. Meßwertbasierte Qualitätssicherung - ein generisches Distanzmaß zur Erweiterung bisheriger Softwareproduktmaße. Dissertation, BTU Cottbus, 2001 (Abstract, Zusammenfassung)

[3] Simon, Frank; Steinbrückner, Frank; Lewerentz, Claus. Anpaßbare, explorierbare virtuelle Informationsräume zur Qualitätsbewertung großer Software-Systeme. Proceedings of 3. Workshop on Reengineering in Bad Honnef, Universität Koblenz,  Mai 2001 (Full Version)

[2] Simon, Frank; Steinbrückner, Frank; Lewerentz, Claus. Metrics Based Refactoring. In Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reengineering (CSMR 2001), pages 30 - 38, © IEEE Computer Society, March 2001 (Full Version)

[1] Simon, Frank; Lewerentz, Claus; Steinbrückner, Frank. Multidimensionale Mess- und Strukturbasierte Softwarevisualisierung. In Proceedings of 2nd Workshop "Reengineering" in Bad Honnef, Fachberichte Informatik 8/2000, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Mai 2000 (Full Version)

Team

• Claus Lewerentz (professor)
• Andreas Noack (research assistant)
• Andre Preußner (student)
• Frank Steinbrückner (student)
• Frank Simon (former research assistant, until 2001)

Author: Andreas Noack (E-Mail and Web Page)