Enhancing static and dynamic views with program slicing

Graphical representations have long been recognized as having an important impact in improving the comprehension of source code. This ideal is restricted by the resolution limits of the visual medium (computer screen) and the limits of users' cognitive and perceptual capacities. In this paper, we present several visualization techniques that we combine with analytical source code analysis to reduce the amount and, therefore, the complexity of data that has to be displayed. In particular, we focus on static and dynamic program slicing and apply this source code analysis technique on Hyperbolic trees, and UML based visualization techniques to support programmers in creating better mental models of the source code. We also introduce our CONCEPT environment and describe how the presented approaches can be applied to reduce the information complexity for particular source code comprehension applications.