Micheal Ogawa at UC Davis has used Processing to build a fascinating visualization tool for source code repositories. His explanation is pretty good:
This visualization, called code_swarm, shows the history of commits in a software project. A commit happens when a developer makes changes to the code or documents and transfers them into the central project repository. Both developers and files are represented as moving elements. When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer. Files are colored according to their purpose, such as whether they are source code or a document. If files or developers have not been active for a while, they will fade away. A histogram at the bottom keeps a reminder of what has come before.
It uses organic information visualization methods, which results in an eerie movie of something akin to cell mitosis or bubbles as the various files coalesce and fly apart. Look after the break for a video of his algorithm applied to the development of Eclipse, but be sure to his his side for videos of various OSS projects like Python, PostgreSQL, and Apache on his side.
via code_swarm.
code_swarm – Eclipse (short ver.) from Michael Ogawa on Vimeo.
