A multi-windowed environment for simultaneous visualization of related algorithms on the World Wide Web

Using algorithm visualization, we can depict the execution of an algorithm as a sequence of graphical snapshots, the viewing of which is controlled by the user. Although the delivery of such visualizations over the Web greatly increases their accessibility, Web-based environments for viewing algorithms often lack the richness of features that characterize similar viewing environments on standalone machines. Here we describe enhancements recently made to such a Web-based system. These enhancements conveniently present a variety of windowing options that allow the user to simultaneously view multiple snapshots. These snapshots may depict (1) similar views of the states of an algorithm over a range of time, (2) different views of the state of an algorithm at a given point in time, or (3) side-by-side comparisons of different algorithms that solve the same problem. We illustrate each of these options using variations of the quick sort algorithm.