Synchronized UML diagrams for object-oriented program comprehension

Abstract

We propose a novel approach for visualizing reverse-engineered Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams (class, object, and sequence) to improve Object-Oriented Program (OOP) comprehension on a web-based programming environment, JaguarCode. It aims to help students better understand static structure and dynamic behavior of Java programs and object-oriented programming concepts. This paper presents an evaluation of JaguarCode, supporting those UML diagrams to investigate its effectiveness and user satisfaction. The results of the experimental study revealed having synchronized UML diagrams positively impacted students' understanding of program execution. It was also observed that students were satisfied with the aspects of the synchronized visualizations of UML diagrams with source code.