Interactive Diagrams for Software Documentation

TL;DR

This paper presents Helveg, an interactive, filterable diagram tool for software documentation that uses static analysis to visualize code structure, aiming to improve understanding and maintenance of large codebases.

Contribution

The paper introduces Helveg, a novel interactive diagram system that automates codebase visualization using static analysis, providing an alternative to traditional static documentation.

Findings

Helveg effectively visualizes C# code structures.

Programmers found the tool beneficial for understanding code.

Challenges include usability and scalability issues.

Abstract

Getting acquainted with a large codebase can be a daunting task for software developers, both new and seasoned. The description of a codebase and its development should be the purpose of its documentation. However, software documentation, if it exists at all, is usually textual and accompanied only by simple static diagrams. It is also time-consuming to maintain manually. Even an API reference, which can be generated automatically from the codebase itself, has many drawbacks. It is limited to what it can extract from the codebase, is cumbersome to navigate, and fails to capture the interwoven nature of code. We explore an alternative approach centered around a node-link diagram representing the structure of a codebase. The diagram is interactive and filterable, providing details on demand. It is designed for automation, relying on static analysis of the codebase, and thus produces results quickly and offers a viable alternative to missing or outdated documentation. To evaluate this approach, we implemented a prototype named Helveg that is able to analyze and visualize C# code. Testing with five professional programmers provided feedback on the approach's benefits and challenges, which we discuss in detail.