Virtual but visible software

Abstract

The problem of trying to view and comprehend large amounts of data is a well-known one. A specialised version of this problem, that of visualising program code (often known as software visualisation) has suffered from the field refusing to embrace new ideas and technologies. The paper presents an application of virtual reality to this problem and highlights areas of importance from virtual reality that have been used to good effect when creating graphical abstractions of Java source code. A summary of the achievements of this approach and the relationship to the virtual reality features believed to be most beneficial is provided.