Data flow diagrams: reverse engineering production and animation

The authors propose the use of interactive animation techniques as a support to reverse engineering processes oriented to the synthesis of semantic abstractions. Starting from data flow diagrams, a formal model, called dynamic data flow diagrams (DDFDs), has been defined, which can be used for the production of executable models of a software system. A strategy for the DDFD interactive animation is also put forward. Finally, the authors describe a prototype tool for (i) the production of the DDFD which models an ADA system starting from the analysis of the code and (ii) the interactive animation of such a model according to the proposed strategy