code@sphinx.UUCP (06/04/87)
I am involved in the development of an interpreter/debugger that automatically
animates programs (without having to modify the program itself). The current
prototype deals only with static data structures and an activation stack,
but the next needs to animate dynamically-allocated data structures.
I would appreciate any references to helpful literature on program animation,
etc., or on useful software tools for developing the interface.
We are planning on having a display manager that draws overlapping objects
like an overlapping window manager, but allows arrows drawn between objects
(i.e. pointers).
We are prepared to implement this display manager ourselves, but if anyone
knows of suitable software that would provide these features, I would love
to hear about it.
Ideally, we would like a language/graphics system that runs on the major
UNIX workstations, perhaps under X. An object-oriented language with
near-real-time garbage collection would be perfect.
Please reply directly to me via e-mail. I will post to the net if anybody
tells me (via e-mail) that they are interested too.
Thanks,
Paul Wilson
P.S. I used to have an article by a Brad Myers(?) on displaying data structures,
but I have lost it. (As I remember, he was displaying structures at a par-
ticular state, while we have to animate changes.) I would appreciate
Myers' address (preferably electronic) if anyone knows it.