Past, Present, and Future of 3D Software Visualization - A Systematic Literature Analysis

Müller, Richard; Zeckzer, Dirk

doi:10.5220/0005325700630074

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Software visualization presents a software system's structure, behavior, or evolution in a visual format (using 2D and 3D visual metaphors) to foster the comprehension of structural arrangements and relations [7,20,25,26].…”

Section: Software Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniquifying Architecture Visualization through Variable 3D Model Generation

Hoff

Seidl

Lanza³

2023

Proceedings of the 17th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems

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Software visualization facilitates the interactive exploration of largescale code bases, e.g., to rediscover the architecture of a legacy system. Visualizations of software structure suffer from repetitive patterns that complicate distinguishing different subsystems and recognizing previously visited parts of an architecture.We leverage variability-modeling techniques to "uniquify" visualizations of subsystems via custom-tailored 3D models of recognizable landmarks: For each subsystem, we derive a descriptor and translate it to a (random but deterministic) configuration of a feature model of variable 3D geometry to support large numbers of different 3D models while capturing the design language of a particular type of landmark. We devised a hybrid variant derivation mechanism using a slots-and-hooks composition system for 3D geometry as well as adjusting visual characteristics, e.g., material. We demonstrate our method by creating various different trophies as landmarks for the visualization of a software system. CCS CONCEPTS• Software and its engineering → Software product lines; • Human-centered computing → Visualization techniques.

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Section: Software Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniquifying Architecture Visualization through Variable 3D Model Generation

Hoff

Seidl

Lanza³

2023

Proceedings of the 17th International Working Conference on Variability Modelling of Software-Intensive Systems

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“…Software visualization techniques represent the intangible structures, interrelations, and interactions of software via visual metaphors in 2D and 3D [17].…”

Section: A Software Visualizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparing Software Re-Engineering via Freehand Sketches in Virtual Reality

Hoff,

Seidl,

Lungu

et al. 2023

2023 IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME)

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Re-architecting a software system requires significant preparation, e.g., to scope and design new modules with their boundaries and constituent classes. When planning an intended future state of a system as a re-engineering goal, engineers often fall recur to mechanisms such as freehand sketching (using a whiteboard). While this ensures flexibility and expressiveness, the sketches remain disconnected from the source code. The alternative, tool-supported diagramming on the other hand considerably restricts flexibility and impedes free-form communication.We present a method for preparing the architectural software re-engineering via freehand sketches in virtual reality (VR) that can be seamlessly integrated with the model structure of a software visualization and, thus, also the code of a system, for productive use: Engineers explore a subject system in the immersive visualization, while freehand sketching their insights and plans. Our concept automatically interprets sketched shapes and connects them to the system's source code, and superimposes code-level references into a sketch to support engineers in reflecting on their sketches.We evaluated our method in an iterative interview-based case study with software developers from four different companies, where they planned a hypothetical re-engineering of an opensource software system.

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“…The survey by Ghanman and Carpendale [6] gives an overall overview about visualizing software architectures. Müller and Zeckzer [7] conducted a literature analysis, which outlines the state-of-the-art, shows trends, and tries to identify research gaps especially for 3D software visualization.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive Visualization of Software Components with Virtual Reality Headsets

Schreiber

Bruggemann²

2017

2017 IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization (VISSOFT)

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In large software projects, it can be hard to understand the actual architecture of the implemented software systems if current design documents are outdated or do not exist at all. For systems based on the OSGi component specification, which are used to build quite large applications with back-end and front-end services, tools for visualizing the actual architecture can help to understand the system. We provide an interactive tool that visualizes OSGi-based systems with their components, packages, services, and dependencies in 3D using Virtual Reality headsets. It uses the metaphor of modular electronic systems. The tool allows software engineers, project managers, or clients to explore the architecture and get a first impression about component sizes and their dependencies.

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Past, Present, and Future of 3D Software Visualization - A Systematic Literature Analysis

Cited by 10 publications

References 41 publications

Uniquifying Architecture Visualization through Variable 3D Model Generation

Uniquifying Architecture Visualization through Variable 3D Model Generation

Preparing Software Re-Engineering via Freehand Sketches in Virtual Reality

Interactive Visualization of Software Components with Virtual Reality Headsets

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