Home // International Journal On Advances in Software, volume 10, numbers 1 and 2, 2017 // View article

ViSiTR: 3D Visualization for Code Visitation Trail Recommendations

Authors:
Roy Oberhauser

Keywords: program code comprehension; recommendation systems; learning models; intelligent tutoring systems; knowledge-based systems; software engineering; engineering training; computer education; software visualization

Abstract:
The rapid digitalization occurring in our society depends on massive amounts of data and software running on various devices. This, in turn, entails the creation and maintenance of an ever-increasing volume of computer program code. This situation is exacerbated by a limited pool of trained human resources that must quickly comprehend various sections of program code. Thus, effective and efficient automated tutor systems or recommenders for program comprehension are imperative. Furthermore, advances in game engine and PC performance have hitherto been insufficiently utilized by software engineering tools to leverage the potential that 3D visualization of code structure and navigation can provide. This paper introduces ViSiTR (3D Visualization of code viSitation Trail Recommendations), an approach that utilizes program code as a knowledge base to automatically recommend code visitation trails with visual 3D navigation to support effective and efficient human program code comprehension. A case study with a prototype demonstrated the viability of the approach but found scalability issues for large projects.

Pages: 46 to 60

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2017. Used with permission.

Publication date: June 30, 2017

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2628