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Visualizing Open Source Contributions

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the do-you-see-what-i-see dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A student at UC Davis has created some stunning visualizations of open source software contributions, including Eclipse, Python, Apache httpd and Postgres. From the website: '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.'"

18 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. lol by Vectronic · · Score: 5, Funny

    "When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer."

    Shit, that sounds kinda scary... flaming files chasing you around the office.

    1. Re:lol by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 5, Funny

      Take your pick. Flaming files, or flying chairs.

  2. Needs flash 9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are there other sources for the videos for us Gnash users?

    1. Re:Needs flash 9 by mebrahim · · Score: 4, Informative

      You may download the original video if you sign up for a Vimeo account.

      --
      Persian Project Management Software as a Service
  3. A bit silly; leaves too many questions.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If a file is commited it flies towards the developer

    Cool, and now I start with 1 developer and eventually add more. What exactly does determine where their place is inside the cloud? Does a developer commit and fly towards the middle or is this random? What happens if several developers commit the same file in a quick period of time? I think the idea is fun but I'm not really impressed without knowing these facts too. Without those this is merely a random animation generator based on commits, which can be compared with your standard scope on Amarok.

    1. Re:A bit silly; leaves too many questions.. by CrazedWalrus · · Score: 3, Informative

      Watching the video, it seems as if the placement is relative to other commits. The developer's name will always be in the center of the ring of his committed files. If those files were also committed by someone else, those two names float closer together to signify that they work on overlapping code. It's sort-of an animated Venn diagram.

      At least that's my interpretation of it from watching the videos.

  4. Can we do this with /.? by davidwr · · Score: 3, Funny

    Finally, a way to see who is wasting the most of their day here!

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Can we do this with /.? by Amouth · · Score: 3, Interesting

      that would be really entertaining to watch.. expecialy if they get get a live feed going..

      i might even hook up another monitor and have it run as a screen saver and aim it at the hallway - and see who figures out what it is first

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  5. Re:Your server was coded by a hamster by amccaf1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    One of the first things that shows up in the Apache video is a "rodent of unusual size" (!).
    Your webserver was coded by a hamster and your Perl smells of elderberries!
    I think you're getting your Princess Bride references confused with your Monty Python pointers...

    --
    "Flag on the moon. How did it get there?"
  6. It's a wonderful life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "When a developer commits a file..." an angel gets its wings.
    .
    .
    .
    . .When it breaks the project, the angel and developer go to hell.

  7. Commits are a bad measure by pclminion · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lots of commits isn't really a measure of developer productivity or worth. Among other things, it might just mean a scatter-brained developer who commits lots of unrelated, mostly useless changes, or somebody who continually writes bugs then has to back them out. More seasoned programmers will tend to make fewer, but larger commits.

    Something open source seems to lack in general is project stability. With so little central oversight, changes tend to happen without people really thinking things through, many times without any clear motivation for the change other than simply pumping out code in order to look "active."

    Software engineering as a discipline has been working for decades to come up with a heuristic to evaluate programmer productivity, and we're still nowhere close, although there are literally hundreds of formulas in use.

    Of course, it's flashy and cool, but I worry that this will only encourage people to make more commits instead of actually using their brains.

    1. Re:Commits are a bad measure by pclminion · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have to agree that SE diverges in very important ways from other engineering disciplines. Perhaps it's not even engineering at all. There are certainly many people who think so. I'm not decided on it. But as long as the common term for it (whatever "it" is) is Software Engineering, that's what I'll use. After all, one important concept from ALL types of engineering is the importance of consistency of terminology (although in this case it's perhaps not consistent ACROSS disciplines, but that's not true of science either)

  8. Re:Your server was coded by a hamster by Osurak · · Score: 4, Informative

    This happens when somebody not versed enough in obscure American culture attempts a joke at Slashdot... Monty Python is British.
  9. Would make great movie credits. by srobert · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd like to see that type of presentation used to show the credits for a film. You could color the contributions according to acting, camera, sound work, directing, etc.

  10. The one that didn't make it by ZeroPly · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apparently they did the same thing for Vista and posted it to youtube, but people just thought it was a watermelon exploding...

    --
    Support microSD: in a post 9/11 world, it is unwise to carry your data on media that you cannot comfortably swallow.
  11. Re:Neuromancer's Cyberspace Cometh by ClassMyAss · · Score: 3, Informative

    Now if someone could make those visualizations interactive GUIs to archives and people, we might finally be getting somewhere. While I'm not sure entirely what that means, it's worth mentioning that this visualization was created in Processing, a Java dialect/IDE geared towards rapid prototyping of exactly that type of thing (highly interactive visualizations), particularly aimed at people that aren't experienced programmers. Ben Fry, the main coder for the project, does a lot of interesting data visualization stuff, and even wrote a whole book about data visualization, which is definitely worth checking out.
  12. I'd like to see... by argent · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Linux kernel, Free/Net/OpenBSD, gcc, ... the core infrastructure

  13. Open source help. by WarJolt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I've received some requests to make the application open source so that people can use it on their own software projects. I think that's a great idea. Unfortunately the ad hoc code needs lots of cleaning and I will be busy with other things in the next few months. If I have time I will look into it. I don't have the authority to speak on behalf of all of us /.ers, but I will anyway. Give it to us and we'll clean it up for you. Unless you're using code you can't release I'd like to take a look at what you got.