Upload your program, share your model

Abstract

We demonstrate the Massey Architecture Explorer (MAE), a browser-based application to visualise and analyse the architecture of JVM applications. The MAE extracts a graph-based model from Java byte code, and visualises it using a force directed layout on an HTML5 canvas. A novel scalable algorithm is used to detect architectural antipatterns. The antipatterns detected focus on problems software architects face when trying to refactor applications into OSGi or similar dynamic component models. A unique feature of this system is that the state of the application is encoded in the URL ("URL memento"). These URLs can be shared and bookmarked, facilitating the sharing of architectural knowledge amongst software engineers.