Structured graphs : a visual formalism for scalable graph based tools & its application to software structured analysis

Structured graphs : a visual formalism for scalable graph based tools & its application to software structured analysis

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 1996

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor	Sifer, Mark John	en_AU
dc.date.accessioned	2007-03-14T01:53:07Z
dc.date.accessioned	2012-12-15T03:51:28Z
dc.date.available	2007-03-14T01:53:07Z
dc.date.available	2012-12-15T03:51:28Z
dc.date.issued	1996
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/20031
dc.description	University of Technology, Sydney. School of Computing Sciences.	en_AU
dc.description.abstract	Very large graphs are difficult for a person to browse and edit on a computer screen. This thesis introduces a visual formalism, structured graphs, which supports the scalable browsing and editing of very large graphs. This approach is relevant to a given application when it incorporates a large graph which is composed of named nodes and links, and abstraction hierarchies which can be defined on these nodes and links. A typical browsing operation is the selection of an arbitrary group of nodes and the display of the network of nodes and links for these nodes. Typical editing operations is: adding a new link between two nodes, adding a new node in the hierarchy, and moving sub-graphs to a new position in the node hierarchy. These operations are scalable when the number of user steps involved remains constant regardless of how large the graph is. This thesis shows that with structured graphs, these operations typically take one user step. We demonstrate the utility of structured graph formalism in an application setting. Computer aided software engineering tools, and in particular, structured analysis tools, are the chosen application area for this thesis, as they are graph based, and existing tools, though adequate for medium sized systems, lack scalability. In this thesis examples of an improved design for a structured analysis tool, based on structured graphs, is given. These improvements include scalable browsing and editing operations to support an individual software analyst, and component composition operations to support the construction of large models by a group of software analysts. Finally, we include proofs of key properties and descriptions of two text based implementations.	en_AU
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.format.extent	147195 bytes
dc.format.extent	990870 bytes
dc.format.extent	1067444 bytes
dc.format.extent	563816 bytes
dc.format.extent	723703 bytes
dc.format.extent	774188 bytes
dc.format.extent	617720 bytes
dc.format.extent	345539 bytes
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dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.language	en	en_AU
dc.language.iso	en_AU
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/20031/6730/02Whole.pdf
dc.relation.replaces	http://hdl.handle.net/2100/296
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
dc.rights	http://www.lib.uts.edu.au/disclaimer.html	en_AU
dc.rights	Copyright Mark J Sifer	en_AU
dc.subject	Computer software development.	en_AU
dc.subject	Graphic methods.	en_AU
dc.subject	Computer programs.	en_AU
dc.subject	Computer simulation.	en_AU
dc.title	Structured graphs : a visual formalism for scalable graph based tools & its application to software structured analysis	en_AU
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access

Abstract:

Very large graphs are difficult for a person to browse and edit on a computer screen. This thesis introduces a visual formalism, structured graphs, which supports the scalable browsing and editing of very large graphs. This approach is relevant to a given application when it incorporates a large graph which is composed of named nodes and links, and abstraction hierarchies which can be defined on these nodes and links. A typical browsing operation is the selection of an arbitrary group of nodes and the display of the network of nodes and links for these nodes. Typical editing operations is: adding a new link between two nodes, adding a new node in the hierarchy, and moving sub-graphs to a new position in the node hierarchy. These operations are scalable when the number of user steps involved remains constant regardless of how large the graph is. This thesis shows that with structured graphs, these operations typically take one user step. We demonstrate the utility of structured graph formalism in an application setting. Computer aided software engineering tools, and in particular, structured analysis tools, are the chosen application area for this thesis, as they are graph based, and existing tools, though adequate for medium sized systems, lack scalability. In this thesis examples of an improved design for a structured analysis tool, based on structured graphs, is given. These improvements include scalable browsing and editing operations to support an individual software analyst, and component composition operations to support the construction of large models by a group of software analysts. Finally, we include proofs of key properties and descriptions of two text based implementations.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/20031