Enhancing program readability and comprehensibility with tools for program visualization

To make computer programs for comprehensible, the presentation of program source text, program documentation, and program execution needs to be enhanced. A number of techniques and tools developed to achieve these ends are described. One of these is a design for the effective presentation of source text in the C programming language using high-quality digital typography; a processor which implements the design is also given. Some experimental evidence is summarized to demonstrate that the resulting source text presentation is significantly more readable and comprehensible than the presentation conventionally used today. Brief descriptions are given of two other techniques, the development of a system of structured program documentation incorporating both text and graphics and the portrayal of program execution with colored computer animation