Treffer: Facilitating Algorithm Animation Creation and Adoption in Education

Algorithm visualization aims to aid the human understanding of a high-level representation of a piece of code. Algorithm animation (AA) is a dynamic algorithm visualization where the dynamic behavior can range from a series of static pictures to an animation requiring interaction from the user. Algorithm animation has been found to be educationally effective, provided that it is interactive enough. However, algorithm animation has not been widely used in teachiing computer science. One of the main reasons for not taking full advantage of AA in teaching is the lack of time on behalf of the instructors. Furthermore, there is a shortage of ready-made, good quality algorithm visualizations. Based on this knowledge, this research focuses on facilitating the creation and adoption of AA in education by finding answers to the following two questions. First, we research how to lower the effort needed to produce algorithm visualizations for teaching. To achieve this, we first define a taxonomy to measure the effortlessness of AA systems. Then, we present a new effortless system, MatrixPro, that is intended for teachers to use on lectures. The second research question is, how can we enable data exchange between algorithm animation systems. To answer this, we specify a taxonomy of algorithm animation languages based on a survey of existing AA languages. We then use the taxonomy to combine the required features of a language that can be used as an intermediate language when exchanging data between algorithm animation systems. Based on this