Newsgroups: comp.parallel.pvm
From: stasko@cc.gatech.edu (John Stasko)
Subject: PVaniM - Visualizing PVM Executions
Organization: College of Computing, Georgia Tech
Date: 22 Feb 1995 11:32:11 -0500
Message-ID: <3ifoub$rqf@merion.cc.gatech.edu>

                         PVaniM 1.0

PVaniM is a new system that provides animated program visualizations
of the executions of PVM 3.3 applications.  PVaniM includes both a set
of graphics views and a tracing package to drive the views.  Unlike
the performance visualizations of ParaGraph, PVaniM focuses on
visualizations of the actual execution and correctness of a program.
PVaniM provides a number of views that show different perspectives on
the dynamics and history of of the message passing in an application,
as well as a more performance oriented Gantt chart view.  Graphical
objects in a PVaniM view also can be queried to determine their
representation.  PVaniM can animate the execution of a program
according to a logical clock, thus truly presenting the (potential)
concurrency of the application.  Finally, PVaniM tracing provides
support for custom user event tracing.  Similarly, users can design
and develop their own application-specific program views using the
Polka animation system upon which PVaniM is built.  (Polka is also
available at the ftp site below.)

Currently, PVaniM presents a very fine grain view of an application's
execution, e.g., information regarding every message is stored.
Consequently, PVaniM works best with small to modest trace files.
Traces from long executions become problematic.  Future work on the
system will address this issue.

To use PVaniM, you must have a C++ compiler and a machine running the
X Window System with the Motif widget set.  We have successfully
installed the system on a number of different vendors' workstations.

Full source, examples, and documentation for PVaniM is available via
anonymous ftp from the machine ftp.cc.gatech.edu under the directory
pub/people/stasko.  You must retrieve two files from there:

   pvanimtrace.tar.Z -- tracing library
   pvanimviz.tar.Z   -- graphics library

You should install the tracing library on the machines on which you
run PVM.  You should install the graphics library on the machine
running the X Window System.

Each compressed tar file contains a top level README that will guide
you through the installation.  We have tried to make this easy to
follow and perform.

If you would like to know more about the system and even see some of
the views, check out the WWW page
  http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/softviz/parviz/pvanim/pvanim.html
This page also has links to the ftp server.

Please let us know what you like and don't like about the package.  We
definitely will use feedback from users to add new functionality
and capabilities to the system.  If there's something you'd like to
have added, please let us know.

If you have any comments, questions, or problems using the package,
please send email to

   pvanim@cc.gatech.edu

--
Brad Topol & John Stasko
Georgia Tech

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Stasko, Assistant Professor              
Graphics, Viz., and Usability Center                phone: (404) 853-9386
College of Computing                                fax:   (404) 853-0673
Georgia Institute of Technology                      stasko@cc.gatech.edu
Atlanta, Georgia  30332-0280                  
           http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/John.T.Stasko.html



