Um Framework Reflexivo para Ferramentas de Visualização de Software

Abstract

This paper presents Luthier, a Smalltalk-80 framework, designed to support the construction of visual tools for dynamic program analysis. Luthier integrates computational reflection techniques based on meta-objets with hypertext and direct-manipulation user interfaces techniques, especially designed to build dynamically adaptable visualization tools through composition of basic behaviours. The framework introduces two main contributions: a meta-object protocol based on the concept of meta-objet managers - which allow the construction of specialized mechanisms for meta-object association and activation - and the explicit support for abstraction scales for the dynamic (and continuos) reconfiguration of visualizations allowing different levels of abstraction. Through the combination of these mechanisms it is possible to build highly-complex structures independently of the implementation of specific visualizations. This allows a greater level of reusability of visualizations, which it is often the most limiting aspect of software visualization systems.