Theia: automatically generating correct program state visualizations

Abstract

Program state visualizations (PSVs) help programmers understand hidden program state like objects, references, and closures. Unfortunately, existing PSV tools do not support custom language semantics, which educators often use to introduce programming languages gradually. They also fail to visualize key pieces of program state, which can lead to incorrect and confusing visualizations. Theia, a generic PSV framework, uses formal abstract machine definitions to produce complete, continuous, and consistent (CCC) PSVs. To produce CCC visualizations with Theia, an educator only needs to specify an abstract machine and optionally customize the resulting web page, allowing her to visualize custom language semantics without developing a language-specific tool.