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ViSta — Visualizing Statecharts

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Graph Drawing Software

Part of the book series: Mathematics and Visualization ((MATHVISUAL))

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Abstract

Statecharts are widely used for the requirements specification of reactive systems. This notation captures the requirements attributes that are concerned with the behavioral features of a system, and models these features in terms of a hierarchy of diagrams and states. The usefulness of statecharts depends primarily on their readability, that is the capability of the drawing to convey the meaning quickly and clearly. Several visualization tools for the specification of reactive systems are available in the market [15],[26],[24],[1]. Even though these tools are helpful in organizing designers’ thoughts, they are mostly sophisticated small scale graphical editors, and therefore are inadequate for the modeling of complex reactive systems. Specifically, hand made diagrams quickly become unreadable when the specification complexity and size increase. Therefore computer assistance is of paramount importance for the graphical representation of complex reactive systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering and Computer Science, Institute of Technology at Monterrey, H. Colegio Militar 4700, Chihuahua, Chih, 31300, México

    Rodolfo Castelló

  2. Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Dallas, Box 830688, Richardson, TX, 75083-0688, USA

    Rym Mili & Ioannis G. Tollis

Authors
  1. Rodolfo Castelló
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  2. Rym Mili
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  3. Ioannis G. Tollis
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Informatik, Universität zu Köln, Pohligstraße 1, 50969, Köln, Germany

    Michael Jünger

  2. Institut für Computergraphik und Algorithmen, Technische Universität Wien, Favoritenstraße 9-11 E186, 1040, Wien, Austria

    Petra Mutzel

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© 2004 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Castelló, R., Mili, R., Tollis, I.G. (2004). ViSta — Visualizing Statecharts. In: Jünger, M., Mutzel, P. (eds) Graph Drawing Software. Mathematics and Visualization. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18638-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18638-7_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62214-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18638-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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