Title:
Visualization of Exception Handling Constructs to Support Program Understanding
Visualization of Exception Handling Constructs to Support Program Understanding
Author(s)
Shah, Hina
Görg, Carsten
Harrold, Mary Jean
Görg, Carsten
Harrold, Mary Jean
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Abstract
This paper presents a new visualization technique for supporting the understanding of exception-handling constructs in
Java programs. To understand the requirements for such a visualization, we surveyed a group of software developers, and
used the results of that survey to guide the creation of the visualizations. The technique presents the exception-handling
information using three views: the quantitative view, the flow view, and the contextual view. The quantitative view provides a
high-level view that shows the throw-catch interactions in the program, along with relative numbers of these interactions, at
the package level, the class level, and the method level. The flow view shows the type-throw-catch interactions, illustrating
information such as which exception types reach particular throw statements, which catch statements handle particular
throw statements, and which throw statements are not caught in the program. The contextual view shows, for particular
type-throw-catch interactions, the packages, classes, and methods that contribute to that exception-handling construct. We
implemented our technique in an Eclipse plugin called EnHanCe and conducted a usability and utility study with participants
in industry.
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Date Issued
2009
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Text
Resource Subtype
Technical Report