A software engineering, visualization methodology for parallel processing systems

The authors focus on techniques for enhancing the feasibility of using graphic visualization in analyzing the complexities of parallel software. The central drawback to applying such visual techniques is the overhead in developing analysis tools with flexible, customized views. The PARADISE system alleviates some of this design overhead by providing an abstract, object-oriented, visual modeling environment which expedites custom visual tool development. PARADISE is a visual tool which is used to develop other visual tools, or a meta-tool. The authors complement previous work on PARADISE by describing the philosophy behind its design, and how that philosophy leads to a methodology for constructing visual models which characterize parallel systems in general. The emphasis is on the crucial issues in utilizing visualization for parallel software development, and on how PARADISE deals with these issues