Experiences in 3-Dimensional Visualization of Java Class Relations

Abstract

Java software provides a vast amount of information about class and interface relations. Inheritance- or uses-relations of large software systems lay great demands on being able to overview the scene. Class browsers may help to master the information, although visualization is usually limited to two dimensions. We analyze the benefits of 3D presentation and discuss experiences with our visualization tool J3Browser. The tool realizes these benefits and some selected visualization techniques within the Java context. This paper leads to a step towards a CAD-like design of Java software in 3D space.