GVU Technical Report Number:
GIT-GVU-91-08
Title:
Applying Program Visualization Techniques to Aid Parallel and Distributed
Program Development
Authors:
John T. Stasko
William F. Appelbe
Eileen Kraemer
Abstract:
Parallel and distributed programming is intrinsically more difficult than
sequential programming, yet few effective tools or methodologies have been
developed to help programmers understand the behavior of their parallel
programs. Browsing source code and tracing program output are tedious and
often ineffective approaches for parallel program understanding.
Program visualization, which relates a program's behavior to the
programmer's model of the system's components and interactions, has been
shown to be a novel and highly effective approach to program and algorithm
comprehension. Extending and adapting program visualization to parallel
programming can aid comprehension of the complex concurrent events and
transitions that occur in parallel programs.
We are defining a model for the capture and display of
parallel program events and transitions, based upon the path-transition
paradigm for animation, and partial ordering of events. Using this
model, we are developing a prototype for visualizing parallel
programs, and testing the model and prototype upon a suite of scientific
parallel programs.
Keywords:
Program visualization, parallel programming
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