Runtime Value Visualizations

A set of tools to support programmers in gaining insights from runtime data of different data types in Squeak/Smalltalk by using visualizations. All visualizations are made to work in the context of a watch in a method. For further background information, please have a look at the wiki.

Installation

To install the basic visualizations and tools, open a workspace and run:

Metacello new
  baseline: 'RuntimeValueVisualization';
  repository: 'github://hpi-swa-teaching/live21-value-visualization:master/packages';
  load: #default.

If you want to have the showcase too, run instead

Metacello new
  baseline: 'RuntimeValueVisualization';
  repository: 'github://hpi-swa-teaching/live21-value-visualization:master/packages';
  load: #showcase.

If you only want the visualizations and not any of the tools, run

Metacello new
  baseline: 'RuntimeValueVisualization';
  repository: 'github://hpi-swa-teaching/live21-value-visualization:master/packages';
  load: #core.

Current State

This project is based on two main components:

• Watches with different visualizations that can be switched at runtime without losing the data
• A tool to display the data of all watches that are in the world next to each other in order to allow correlations to be detected

Related Projects

• Babylonian/S
• Sandblocks

Acknowledgements

• Thanks to @tom95 and @codeZeilen for their supervision and feedback on the prototypes
• Thanks to @lpfennigschmidt for sitting down with me and creating promising ideas for visualizations.