METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RUN-TIME VISUALIZATION OF THE FUNCTION AND OPERATION OF A COMPUTER PROGRAM

摘要

A software visualization tool (20) enables a user to observe the inner workings of a computer program (e.g., a Java program) while it executes. An original program is augmented with calls (56) to a shadow machine (24) at locations where the original program modifies a data structure (16) maintained by the data program or updates values in a value set (18) maintained within the context of the data structure. A duplicate copy of the data structure (27) and the value set (28) for the augmented program (30) is maintained during execution of the computer program by a shadow machine. A display engine (26) accesses the duplicate copy of the data structure and the value set, and displays a visual representation of the duplicate copy on a display device so as to facilitate visualization of the execution of the augmented program in a dynamic and near real-time manner.