Date of Award

12-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Gary B. Lamont, PhD

Abstract

Algorithm animation is a visualization method used to enhance understanding of the functioning of an algorithm or program. Visualization is used for many purposes, including education, algorithm research, performance analysis, and program debugging. This research, which follows from previous work, examines algorithm animation requirements for the various visualization purposes and extends the capabilities of an existing facilities, the AFIT algorithm Animation Research Facility (AAARF). The structure of AAARF is summarised and its visualization capabilities presented, analysed and compared with other similar packages. This research focuses on the parallel data requirements of the AAARF users, and the meaningful display of large amounts of data. This paper discusses a series of refined animations suitable for a variety of purposes which are capable of conveying detailed information in a concise and timely manner and the development and implementation of a new performance animation type is presented. These animations are built upon pedagogical efforts in a classroom environment. To assist novice users in efficiently using AAARF, an expert system interface has been implemented to advise on optimizing environment configuration. Considerable effort has been devoted to porting AAARF to the X Windows environment and the lessons learned and progress made are discussed.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GCS-ENG-91D-11

DTIC Accession Number

ADA244046

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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