Visual impact analysis

Author

Gallagher, Keith B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Loyola Coll., Baltimore, MD, USA

fYear

1996

fDate

4-8 Nov 1996

Firstpage

52

Lastpage

58

Abstract

The Surgeon´s Assistant is a CASE tool for software maintainers and developers of ANSI C programs. It is based on the premises that maintainers need to be able to limit the scope of changes and that (most) development starts from some existing, similar system. The Decomposition Slice Display System (DSDS-XVCG), a component of the Surgeon´s Assistant, automates and visualizes impact analysis by displaying the relationships among a program´s decomposition slices. It allows the software maintainer to visually comprehend the relationships between the decomposition slices. The DSDS-XVCG uses the interface of a tool for Visualizing Compiler Graphs, VCG, to present the lattice of the decomposition slices for the user´s perusal. It allows the user to manipulate the graph by deleting and coloring nodes, and by collapsing regions. The software maintainer is provided with a visualization of the impact of proposed changes and can plan maintenance accordingly

Keywords

computer aided software engineering; program diagnostics; software maintenance; visual programming; ANSI C programs; CASE tool; DSDS-XVCG; Decomposition Slice Display System; Surgeon Assistant; Visualizing Compiler Graphs; decomposition slices; software maintainers; software maintenance; visual impact analysis; Computer aided software engineering;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Software Maintenance 1996, Proceedings., International Conference on

Conference_Location

Monterey, CA

ISSN

1063-6773

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7677-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSM.1996.564988

Filename

564988