This paper presents a strategy for the visualization of dynamic object relationships in Java programs. The metaphor of a chemical molecule is used to aid comprehension, and to help in reducing the size of the object graph. Our strategy has been implemented by dynamically instrumenting Java bytecode to collect trace data, which is then analyzed and visualized in 3D using VRML. Quantitative and graphical results are presented, based on an analysis of programs in the SPEC JVM98 and JOlden benchmark suites.
['Brian A. Malloy', 'James F. Power']
Using a molecular metaphor to facilitate comprehension of 3D object diagrams