Friday, September 26, 2008

Graph visualization of a Java application

Wouldn't it be great to visualize the object graph and relations of Java classes or of a running Java application?
Graph viz
The graph could centre part would start with the binding of the application, like a Spring configuration.
As objects are garbage collected, they fade away. Old objects change colour and large complex classes are inflated.
The application could be useful for new developers to grasp the application, during debugging and testing.

The information could be collected from the classes and relations, and memory dumps or connecting to the VM.

Any takers? I want this application yesterday!

3 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I find this a brilliant idea and a great and fun topic to tackle; are you still into this?
    M.

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  2. I've not looked any deeper into the topic, other than fooling around with graphs for another project. From what I've heard, the Spring guys are working on something similar with Spring IDE http://springide.org . But then centered around the runtime config of Spring.
    -Stig,

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  3. One of my students is currently working on this. There has been some analysis of graphs of these type; they show remarkable resemblance to the brain (yes they do).


    The analysis have not been visualized as far as I know.


    Daan

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