Brown Sedgewick A System For Algorithm Animation英文电子书.pdf

Computer Graphics Volume18, Number3 July 1984 A System for Algorithm Animationt Mare H. Brown Robert Seclgewick Dept. of C o m p u t e r Science Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Abstract: A software environment is described which provides facilitiesat a variety of levels for ~animating algorithms: exposing properties of programs by displaying multiple dynamic views of the program and associated data structures. The system isoperational on a network of graphics-based, personal workstations and has been used successfully in several applications for teaching and research in computer science and mathematics. In this paper, we outline the conceptual framework that we have developed for animating algorithms, describe the system that we have implemented, and give severalexamples drawn from the host of algorithms that we have animated. Introduction C o m p u t e r programs in execution are com p l e x objects w h o s e properties can be difficult to f a t h o m . Our central thesis is t h a t it is possible to expose t h e f u n d a m e n t a l characteristics of Figure 1. An iconic table of contents for some BALSA animations. This may be thought of as an index to a a broad variety of p r o g r a m s t h r o u g h t h e use