Software Evolution Storylines, Inspired By XKCD

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Software Evolution Storylines, Inspired By XKCD

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 7, 2010 @09:11PM from the top-that-with-sparklines dept.

jamie tips this mind-blowing data visualization concept from (naturally) data visualization researcher Michael Ogawa, who explains that it was inspired by "this XKCD comic. It represents characters as lines that converge in time as they share scenes. Could this technique be adapted for software developers who work on the same code?"

136 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-07 21:16 · Score: 3, Insightful

A data visualisation researcher hasn't seen this method of visualising data before xkcd? Really?
1. Re:inspiration by kyz · 2010-10-07 21:22 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I thought that too.
  The xkcd comic is itself inspired by Charles Minard's 1869 flow map of Napoleon's march to Moscow, a celebrated map in visualisation, and most recently popularised by Edward Tufte, one of the most well known data visualisation experts.
  Why would someone, who is supposed to be a data visualisation researcher, not have seen this celebrated work of his own field before he saw a knock-off cartoon?
  
  --
  Does my bum look big in this?
2. Re:inspiration by Andy+Smith · 2010-10-07 21:29 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  knock-off cartoon
  
  Superbly executed knock-off cartoon, if you please.
3. Re:inspiration by mcvos · 2010-10-07 21:40 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  It reminds me a lot of the graphs that github creates, showing who committed when, who pulled from whom and merged what with what. I could stare at those graphs for hours.
4. Re:inspiration by Exitar · 2010-10-07 21:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Probably he did, but citing xkcd granted him an article on /.
5. Re:inspiration by Ponyegg · 2010-10-07 22:30 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I'd be interested in seeing XKCD's take on Being John Malkovic though.
6. Re:inspiration by icebraining · 2010-10-07 22:39 · Score: 1
  
  Immediately thought about Github when I read the summary too. Been watching Kohana's graph the other day, it's fascinating.
  
  --
  Dilbert RSS feed
7. Re:inspiration by Hognoxious · 2010-10-07 22:48 · Score: 1
  
  Minard's poster is actually much more sophisticated - for example it includes quantitative info such as army size.
  This new "breakthrough" isn't much different to those rock family trees that show how bands are related via common members. Except it uses a computer.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
8. Re:inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-07 23:08 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  xkcdsucks and xkcdexplained are the only reasons to read xkcd. For this comic I recall thinking, "I wonder which one will mention Minard?" But xkcdsucks went one step further, noting that comic 540 (by its "Napoleon's forces" label) almost confirms that Munroe had previously seen Minard's excellent diagram.
9. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 23:10 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  This is in fact the exact strategy that Kurt Vonnegut used to use to plan his novels. He used to discuss it in terms of Slaughterhouse 5 where Dresden was a large black bar that most of the characters didn't emerge from.
10. Re:inspiration by mcvos · 2010-10-07 23:13 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I think you need the surface of a Klein bottle to draw that graph.
11. Re:inspiration by Simulant · 2010-10-07 23:42 · Score: 1
  
  There's a first time for everything. Got anything useful to say? mod parent and nearly every other post so far -1 arrogant.
12. Re:inspiration by @madeus · 2010-10-07 23:47 · Score: 1
  
  Good catch. I was thinking of that visualisation (I first saw it in Science Museum in London) but couldn't remember the details. I've seen implementations of the same format in The Economist too.
13. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:03 · Score: 0
  
  What? There are two very distinct lines... or are you saying they should be the same?
14. Re:inspiration by koiransuklaa · 2010-10-08 00:09 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  Huh? Minard's map isn't even close to the xkcd version:
  A) Minard doesn't depict time, except on the few points on the temp scale, he uses both graph axes for location
  B) There are no multiple actors in Minard's map
  C) XKCD map only trie to convey character proximity over time: the major point of Minard's map is connecting several seemingly unrelated data points: it makes recognizing patterns easier.
  So... I agree that Minard's map is a "better" inspiration for this work (and maybe it was the inspiration but xkcd-references were better /. material), but how on earth is the xkcd map is a knock-off of Minardi? That makes no sense at all.
15. Re:inspiration by gpm · 2010-10-08 00:18 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  No it doesn't. There are green lines for Frodo & Bilbo and a yellow line for the Ringbearer which functions as an overlay. At the start it overlays Bilbo's line, then moves to Frodo's line. At points it overlays Sam & Gollum for short periods.
16. Re:inspiration by skids · 2010-10-08 00:32 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah It's mildly improved in that the hair-thin lines during stalls in a developer's output would probably make the github graphs better.
  But not the first person to ever graph project activity this way by a long shot.
  
  --
  Someone had to do it.
17. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:44 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  I want to see Memento as depicted by this flow graph cartoon mechanism.
18. Re:inspiration by hattig · 2010-10-08 00:45 · Score: 1
  
  I guess Super Size Me could be represented with a gradually widening line.
19. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:51 · Score: 0
  
  Mentioning Cthulhu or SQL injection attacks just isn't funny, and shouldn't be considered funny, even to people who are aware of what they are.
  Clearly you aren't aware of what some of those things are, because for the most part xkcd does happen to strike me as funny. Sure, some of them are just mildly amusing, but a lot of them do indeed happen to deserve a laugh, and not just because they talk about obscure things that I understand.
20. Re:inspiration by Tanktalus · 2010-10-08 00:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Generally speak, humor is found in the unexpected. If you don't expect to see that reference in the given context, and it is made, or if it's being applied in a context that is unexpected, that is funny. At least to the observer that both gets the reference and doesn't expect it.
  That said, SQL injection attacks are not only unexpected in a child's name, but I've forwarded that comic on to a number of developers of a large commercial database product (as well as many others) as a way to teach people to USE F*CKING PLACEHOLDERS. It has been fairly successful, I might add. After spending 15 minutes trying and failing to get across to them why "SELECT * FROM MYTABLE WHERE FOO = $foo" is bad, I go look up the xkcd comic and show it to them. In 30 seconds, xkcd's author gets across what I can't in 15 minutes over the phone (perhaps I could do it in person with a whiteboard to share).
  Now, maybe a troll will come along and say that I'm not a very good teacher. Although I have plenty of experience to the contrary, let's assume this to be true. My point still stands: those comics teach against SQL injection more effectively than I can, thus it's an invaluable tool. The unexpected reference makes it funny enough for me to remember it, the pointed truth of it makes it a good teaching tool.
21. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 01:05 · Score: 0
  
  xkcdsucks and xkcdexplained are the only reasons to read xkcd.
  
  You're not reading it right.
22. Re:inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-08 01:37 · Score: 1
  
  I just invented a windmill used to generate electricity. Its inspiration was xkcd 556.
  Would it be arrogant to point out, like most responses, prior art for both the idea and deployment of wind turbines?
  Also, everyone who has read or even heard of Don Quixote is aware that he tilted at windmills. If you have lived in Spain for any length of time the sight of windmills will bring Cervantes to mind automatically. It is not funny to simply put Don Quixote in a scene involving scary windmills, any more than it is funny to have Macbeth appearing in a Halloween scene just because he was under some witches' spell.
23. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-08 01:37 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  Minard's poster is actually much more sophisticated - for example it includes quantitative info such as army size.
  Exactly the kind of sophistication you need when tracking individuals - NOT. Oh, and please try to find out what a timeline is.
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
24. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 01:39 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Hey! Give him a break, he's probably a grad student. And we, grad students, of course spend more time reading cartoons rather than actual journal publications. Now, from the researcher perspective, xkcd should be providing references to us, grad students, to avoid having "xkcd.com" in the bibliography!
25. Re:inspiration by Stooshie · 2010-10-08 01:40 · Score: 1
  
  Or a mobius loop.
  
  --
  America, Home of the Brave. ... .and the Squaw.
26. Re:inspiration by khallow · 2010-10-08 01:50 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Why would someone, who is supposed to be a data visualisation researcher, not have seen this celebrated work of his own field before he saw a knock-off cartoon?
  An amazing act of hindsight. I would have continued to labor under the false impression that this sort of work required a great deal of creativity and effort, if it weren't for your knowledgeable insight into what the researchers should have been thinking!
27. Re:inspiration by operagost · 2010-10-08 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  XKCD comics created some of those memes. Like the "Bobby Tables" joke you don't seem to like.
  
  --
  
  Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
28. Re:inspiration by kyz · 2010-10-08 02:33 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Take a look at the thickness of the line in Minard's graph, ebbing away as Napoleon's troops die. That was the main purpose of the graph, to visualise how someone could leave with 422,000 men and come back with 10,000. That's why it's famous.
  Now take a look at Sauron ebbing away as he uses his power to create orcs, and how the orc armies and human armies ebb away as they're killed.
  
  --
  Does my bum look big in this?
29. Re:inspiration by eharvill · 2010-10-08 02:47 · Score: 1
  
  Ahh. That's who that is in the last frame. I should know that, I have a whole collection of Don Quixote DVDs for my kid. Of course, they are in Castilian and my Spanish is severely lacking.
  
  --
  At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me
30. Re:inspiration by plcurechax · 2010-10-08 02:56 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Why would someone, who is supposed to be a data visualisation researcher, not have seen this celebrated work of his own field before he saw a knock-off cartoon?
  You're either a) new to IT / Computer Science, or b) too young to have experienced a revolutionary new paradigm that matches either anything discovered at Xerox PARC Labs or in general 20-30 years ago by professionals who are now "grey beards," but commonly referred to as old fogies when they point our that even IT / Computing and Computer Science has a history.
  Examples include Alohanet (vs. Wi-Fi / "wireless Internet"), time-sharing systems (vs. thin computing or virtualization), IM (vs talk / irc), CU-SeeMe (vs video IM, ChatRoulette), Jennifer Ringley (vs cam-girls), Xanadu (vs. iBooks, Google Books), and Nikola Tesla (vs. "wireless power" and numerous other things he invented, prototyped, or predicted).
31. Re:inspiration by Hognoxious · 2010-10-08 03:02 · Score: 1
  
  Clearly you aren't aware of what some of those things are, because for the most part xkcd does happen to strike me as funny.
  He's probably running sense of humour 2.24.11-132 or higher. You should upgrade.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
32. Re:inspiration by Hognoxious · 2010-10-08 03:07 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly the kind of sophistication you need when tracking individuals - NOT.
  The article is about code changes. Wouldn't it be relevant to see how big the changes were?
  
  Oh, and please try to find out what a timeline is.
  I know what one is, and so did Minard. Are you claiming that's an innovation too?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
33. Re:inspiration by FlyMysticalDJ · 2010-10-08 03:15 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I'm so glad we finally moved to a standardized sense of humor system so that we'll all think the same things are funny and no longer have awkward moments of only certain people laughing at certain things. I'm especially looking forward to the consolidation of the comedian market as we remove the unnecessary comics and just zone in to the one that tells the jokes that are in keeping with our collective sense of humor.
34. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-08 03:34 · Score: 1
  
  Ahh. That's who that is in the last frame.
  
  It's Don from the drawings by Picasso, to be precise.
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
35. Re:inspiration by RevWaldo · 2010-10-08 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  Or The Big Sleep - now that's a challenge.
  
  .
  
  --
  Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
36. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-08 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  Oh, and please try to find out what a timeline is.
  I know what one is, and so did Minard. Are you claiming that's an innovation too?
  So why didn't he use one? (Hint: because that wasn't a point he was trying to make) Did you even notice he didn't use one, but instead put the line of decreasing thickness over a geographic map? So it sorta looks like a timeline as long as they went east, but completely kicks that analogy in the nuts when they went back west?
  Yeah, it's a complete rip-off, it's just completely different in subtle ways.
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
37. Re:inspiration by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2010-10-08 03:55 · Score: 1
  
  Superbly executed, yes. And a principal exhibit in the argument that the comic be renamed from XKCD to OCD.
  "until 2007 when activity drops off."
  Ha!
  I want to see this graph for the SLASHCODE.
  "Until 2003, when Rob loses the will to live." :-)
  
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
38. Re:inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-08 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  See the bottom of Minard? He's mapped between time and space on the horizontal for the return march, and added temperatures for each marked date. He could have done another at the top for the outward march, but this isn't as interesting (i.e. winter is not beating Napoleon logarithmically shitless yet) and he probably didn't want to clutter it. The diagram is just lovely.
  Meanwhile, Munroe's may have involved a lot of grunt work (i.e. for once he's perhaps put in a full day's work to prepare the comic he supposedly works full time on), but in terms of form it's just the latest in a long line of similar diagrams and it's not a particularly sophisticated example either.
39. Re:inspiration by kyz · 2010-10-08 04:09 · Score: 1
  
  I hear you, and I agree almost entirely - especially, let's say, Doug Englebart's mother of all demos.
  However, I'd say the closest reinvention of Xanadu is the WWW, not e-books. And the WWW succeeded where Xanadu failed because Tim Berners-Lee either didn't know or didn't care about all the use cases Xanadu tried to fulfill.
  He got 'good enough' that let people experience the magic of hypertext, while Ted Nelson still isn't there yet, despite the 30 year head start, because he's still trying to solve problems like "how do I get paid when someone copies my work and includes it in their work?"
  So perhaps there's value in youthful folly?
  
  --
  Does my bum look big in this?
40. Re:inspiration by Thing+1 · 2010-10-08 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  Or, take it a step further and remove the joke! (For those of you who've heard the prison joke: "Number 23!" ;)
  
  --
  I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
41. Re:inspiration by MaskedSlacker · 2010-10-08 06:28 · Score: 1
  
  I know what one is, and so did Minard
  Hey may have, but he didn't use one. His graph was a spatial line--from Paris on the left, to Not-Moscow on the right, and back again.
42. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 08:23 · Score: 0
  
  Or Inception.
43. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-08 09:20 · Score: 1
  
  See the bottom of Minard? He's mapped between time and space on the horizontal for the return march,
  
  Which isn't equidistant, but one of several datapoints on the map. That's exactly what the graphs from TFA are not. What's next, bats are birds?
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
44. Re:inspiration by Hognoxious · 2010-10-08 11:52 · Score: 1
  
  For the benefit of the GP, would number 23 be "Whooooosh!!!", by any chance?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
45. Re:inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-08 13:30 · Score: 1
  
  Wow, you are one of those people who just can't take it when you been shown wrong. As the other poster said last time I had the misfortune to have a discussion with you, stop moving the goalposts. Minard is an example of a timeline, possessing a superset of all the substantive properties of Munroe's diagram. You might as well argue that an iMac is not a PC because it only comes with an attached glossy monitor in one aspect ratio.
  I think you may have trouble with characterisation of objects and matching of patterns. Have you considered studying more mathematics?
46. Re:inspiration by treeves · 2010-10-08 16:42 · Score: 1
  
  That doesn't make any sense: are you saying that Napoleon's army was all strung out between Paris and Moscow at some point in time and the diagram is just a snapshot of that moment? Of course time was represented in that graphic. Stop being obtuse.
  
  --
  ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
47. Re:inspiration by MaskedSlacker · 2010-10-08 16:58 · Score: 1
  
  It makes perfect sense, if you're seen the graph, and the rivers that are drawn on it--the timeline is a unidimensional map of Napoleon's route.
48. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 20:16 · Score: 0
  
  It's odd and maybe I shouldn't tell you why but I realized I have to gratefully and explicitly thank you in advance just in case you don't read through all of this since the start might annoy you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
  Had to have a look at those sites since I hadn't heard of them before. Looking at the first pages of xkcdsucks and xkcdexplained I've found a new maximum for (respectively childishly curse-laden and failed pretentiously dry) pettiness on the internet. If that's what you "appreciate" then you have both my pity and derision, well done to you for managing to create such a combination.
  You already have a life, do you really want to use it like this? To spend it on people conquering fluff with acerbic petulance?
  Now I have to give you --or in case I'm wrong about you then the sites-- an accolade: you/they have managed to make me feel like I'm doing pretty well with my meandering, friendless, troubled, handicapped and isolated life. Despite my harsh illness removing any hope of a more normal life as well as any likelihood of ever achieving anything of lasting importance I can still say to myself that I've been using my time fairly well thanks to you/them. As illness breeds further illness and health issues I could easily die within a few years or simply decide to end it out of a wish to stop the slow torture of ever increasing depths of fatigue (I already know what 10 years of this feels like) yet no matter what you/they have given me considerable peace of mind.
  Thank you, despite my comment hopefully you too have something that gives you such a subjective proof of soaring far far above the bottom of the pit (if it's through "appreciating" those sites then so be it).
  And if you should need something else you should know you've lightened the load of a decade of chronic illness for me by making me see something I had forgotten. That's an amazing feat!
  Thank you from the bottom of my heart and may you have a great life no matter what I write and no matter how you interpret it!
49. Re:inspiration by FuckingNickName · 2010-10-08 21:20 · Score: 1
  
  my meandering, friendless, troubled, handicapped and isolated life
  We get it, you like xkcd.
50. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-09 00:39 · Score: 1
  
  That doesn't make any sense: are you saying that Napoleon's army was all strung out between Paris and Moscow at some point in time and the diagram is just a snapshot of that moment? Of course time was represented in that graphic. Stop being obtuse.
  Sure, but not as one of the axis. IOW not a timeline. How hard id that to understand?
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
51. Re:inspiration by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2010-10-09 00:41 · Score: 1
  
  Wow, you are one of those people who just can't take it when you been shown wrong.
  You took the words right out of my mouth, Mr. Wrong.
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
52. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-09 02:12 · Score: 0
  
  haha, dude, whenever i see a thread with you i know you are gonna embarrass yourself. i thought you were a troll but you try way too hard.
53. Re:inspiration by kurokame · 2010-10-10 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  Teaching is a very results-fixated process. If it works and doesn't throw errors at the ethics board, it's probably a good method. If it doesn't work, it's probably a bad method, no matter how "correct" it is.
54. Re:inspiration by koiransuklaa · 2010-10-11 21:15 · Score: 1
  
  Oh wow, I hadn't even noticed the orcs and men. Oops... I still say that's a minor feature in the xkcd map.
  Minard's work is awesome because the other data sources cleverly tie into the army size changes: like I said, it's about pointing out patterns that otherwise would require quite a lot of text. I don't see Xkcd doing that (or even trying to).
55. Re:inspiration by t_ban · 2010-10-11 22:46 · Score: 1
  
  USE F*CKING PLACEHOLDERS.
  I don't know what you're talking about, but if these are inventions that can stop me and my girlfriend from sliding towards the edge of the bed during sex, then I definitely need some!
  
  --
  First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. -Gandhi
56. Re:inspiration by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-13 04:33 · Score: 0
  
  Google Wave!
This news post needs by MistrX · 2010-10-07 21:18 · Score: 1, Funny

The obligatory XKCD comic.
1. Re:This news post needs by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 23:01 · Score: 0
  
  best xkcd ever!
It would be useful to see this on mature projets by Chrisq · 2010-10-07 21:22 · Score: 4, Interesting

Very often it is difficult to see at a glance whether a project is mature and stable or just dead. It would be interesting to see whether this type of visualisation can tell you at a glance how healthy the project is. If so it would be nice to have this view on sourceforge, etc.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by Errol+backfiring · 2010-10-07 21:29 · Score: 2, Funny

Or Across projects. So you can see which developer / client / manager is the most destructive to projects. Or how projects are given to others (like the One Ring in the XKCD example) before ending up in /mnt/doom.

--
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
FFS! by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 21:30 · Score: 0, Redundant

It's xkcd, not XKCD...
1. Re:FFS! by amnezick · 2010-10-07 23:00 · Score: 0
  
  has anyone ever read it as "excased" ?
  
  --
  mov ax,4c00h
  int 21h
What will happen if I... by a_hanso · 2010-10-07 21:30 · Score: 1

We've got a CVS repository of about half a million lines of C++ code, running back at least 5 years. I'm almost afraid to run code_swarm on it.
1. Re:What will happen if I... by a_hanso · 2010-10-07 21:44 · Score: 1
  
  Argh! code_swarm is the previous visualization scheme. Source is not yet available on this one. And I've already lost hope. As I unzipped the archive, I thought I saw .jar files. File extensions beginning with that letter are not welcome where I work...
2. Re:What will happen if I... by icebraining · 2010-10-07 22:43 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Must be tough browsing the web without JPEG images.
  
  --
  Dilbert RSS feed
3. Re:What will happen if I... by Paua+Fritter · 2010-10-07 23:40 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  As I unzipped the archive, I thought I saw .jar files. File extensions beginning with that letter are not welcome where I work...
  That must be awkward ... most file extensions do begin with . after all.
4. Re:What will happen if I... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:54 · Score: 0
  
  File extensions beginning with that letter
  
  most file extensions do begin with .
  
  So Morse is your native language?
5. Re:What will happen if I... by richlv · 2010-10-08 01:52 · Score: 1
  
  hehe, seeing the name i thought "i've seen it before... wasn't it that repository visualisation stuff, codeswarm ?"
  that one was quite nice - unfortunately, abandoned soon so for non-coding users some customisation was missing. so these are very nice concepts that can be sometimes used, but so far they don't seem to attract developer attention to get them going.
  
  --
  Rich
6. Re:What will happen if I... by smi.james.th · 2010-10-08 02:45 · Score: 1
  
  What's wrong with Java? I love it, personally, I think it's elegant.
  
  --
  One thing I know, and that is that I am ignorant...
7. Re:What will happen if I... by tehcyder · 2010-10-08 03:52 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  What's wrong with Java? I love it, personally, I think it's elegant.
  
  The thing is, you're not even allowed to post on slashdot unless you've already written a far better programming language than Java before your twelfth birthday.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
8. Re:What will happen if I... by darthdavid · 2010-10-08 15:25 · Score: 1
  
  Dah-di-dah-dah Dah-dah-dah Di-di-dah, Di-dit Dah-dit Di-di-dit Dit Dah-dit Di-di-dit Di-dit Dah Di-dit Di-di-di-dah Dit, Dah-di-dah-dit Di-dah-di-dit Dah-dah-dah Dah-di-dit
9. Re:What will happen if I... by a_hanso · 2010-10-08 18:50 · Score: 1
  
  12th birthday you say? Does QBASIC count?
  And yes, despite my many digit UID, I actually started coding in the 10 PRINT GOTO era.
But what does it tell me? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 21:36 · Score: 3, Insightful

The XCKD comic was a great example of visualization because after a brief time acclimatizing to the layout, I could immediately comprehend it and draw conclusions out of it. Doing the same with a software project would be interesting, but right now all I see is a bunch of tangled lines -- they don't mean anything to me.
Anyone who has worked on this project -- do they mean anything to you? Anyone else -- what do you see in these graphs?
1. Re:But what does it tell me? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 21:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I see in the Python timeline that Guido van Rossum forked into "guido" (red line) and "gvanrossum" (dark green line).
2. Re:But what does it tell me? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 22:01 · Score: 0
  
  Dead people. Lots of them.
  And I hear 'em too.
3. Re:But what does it tell me? by war4peace · 2010-10-08 00:17 · Score: 1
  
  I was under the same impression.
  I work with data and data visualization. I prefer drill-down visualization techniques starting with a general view and extending interaction via drill-downs.
  The samples presented don't tell much. The level of visualization is too granular for a general view. IMO, it+s a bunch of tangled nonsense, helping in no way. But it's "shiny" and nicely colored - so managers might like it a lot :)
  
  --
  ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
4. Re:But what does it tell me? by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 03:51 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  And therein lies the power of Open Source Software. It's something you hear time and again:
  If you don't like how the developers are handling things, you can go fork yourself.
Re:Timeline for Primer by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 21:45 · Score: 0

Two errors: not permitted and 404.
Timeline... by geogob · 2010-10-07 21:53 · Score: 5, Funny

I bet the Windows timeline looks like the one for Primer.
1. Re:Timeline... by Gunstick · 2010-10-08 00:34 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I don't have a windows timeline, but system calls are nice too
  http://mattiasgeniar.be/2008/11/09/system-calls-in-apache-linux-vs-iis-windows/
  
  --
  Atari rules... ermm... ruled.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by Lord+Bitman · 2010-10-07 21:55 · Score: 1, Troll

"Mature and stable" is just a euphemism for "dead". If your project REALLY has no bugs, and all its users are fully satisfied with the current feature-set, that just means you don't have any new users. It is far more likely that all your current users have long-since learned to live with bugs you don't feel like fixing, or have built ad-hoc work-arounds for bugs and missing features since your project is too "stable" (read: dead) to accept patches or proposals.

--
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
"researcher" by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 21:57 · Score: 0

He specializes in data visualization and yet his charts are completely unhelpful. Splendid. Oh what's that? He's writing a research paper about this completely useless visualization method? Excellent.
1. Re:"researcher" by vagabond_gr · 2010-10-07 22:17 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Thankfully, SoftVis 2010 (the ACM symposium where his paper is going to be presented) does not take into account reviews from anonymous cowards on slashdot.
2. Re:"researcher" by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 22:38 · Score: 0
  
  ...but in all likelihood they'll shrug it off as unhelpful just the same.
3. Re:"researcher" by Hognoxious · 2010-10-08 03:41 · Score: 1
  
  I have to concur. They look very nice and all, but what question is anyone likely to ask that can be answered by looking at them.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Translation by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 22:07 · Score: 0

"Dude, I came across this cool xkcd comic and decided to write some software to do just that."
Could this technique be adapted for software? by pedantic+bore · 2010-10-07 22:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Sure; we've tried every other fad that's come along, might as well try this one also.

--
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
1. Re:Could this technique be adapted for software? by Chowderbags · 2010-10-08 03:47 · Score: 1
  
  I remember when the acid wash jeans and leopard print fad hit software. I still have nightmares.
  
  Also does anyone know what this whole BiebeRPC craze is about? Ever since it started up I've noticed my servers running at a much higher pitch...
Obligatory XKCD comic by Dexter+Herbivore · 2010-10-07 22:13 · Score: 2, Funny

Oh wait... :)
Special request by airfoobar · 2010-10-07 22:13 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Could somebody please draw me a diagram for Mr Ogawa you have too much free time on your hands? Much appreciated.
1. Re:Special request by silverglade00 · 2010-10-08 02:18 · Score: 1
  
  now----------------------->infinity
  Apparently, my comment looks too much like ascii art without this statement. It also needs fewer junk characters without this statement. No wonder nobody else drew you such a simple timeline. These characters are not junk, stupid filter! This is a new, exciting visualization method.
Seems scary. by SharpFang · 2010-10-07 22:43 · Score: 2, Funny

Say what you want, these graphs look like some evil worms from below, kind of parasites that prey on the Deep Ones... Scary.

--
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
He may have been inspired by XKCD by argStyopa · 2010-10-07 22:52 · Score: 5, Informative

...but XKCD pretty clearly was inspired by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wallchart_of_World_History (first version 1890).
It's a pretty cool visualization, illustrating in a very superficial way how each state mutates and evolves politically into its descendants.

--
-Styopa
1. Re:He may have been inspired by XKCD by karnal · 2010-10-07 23:28 · Score: 1
  
  But there's no picture in your link! It must have a picture or I'll lose interest!!!!!
  
  --
  Karnal
Re:Timeline for Primer by hAckz0r · 2010-10-07 23:19 · Score: 1

I think the parent post was referring to this image: http://www.freeweb.hu/neuwanstein/primer_timeline.jpg. The original URL gives a 404, but I managed to locate the actual link by searching for the proper Blog article on that site for the date specified in the original URL.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by m50d · 2010-10-07 23:32 · Score: 3, Insightful

That's simply false; some programs do something, do it well, and know where responsibility is best handed off to another program. When was the last time ls needed an update?

--
I am trolling
Ehm... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-07 23:36 · Score: 0

Isn't that basically a swim lane diagram?
1. Re:Ehm... by Don_dumb · 2010-10-08 00:00 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Not the way I understand (or my organisation uses) swimlanes.
  
  As is implied by the word swimlane, the diagram shows several horizontal 'lanes', these represent individual people or organisations. Then a flowchart is overlayed onto the swimlanes. Whenever an action is performed by a organisation, the flowchart box for that action is in their lane.
  This shows for instance who is responsible for what in a process.
  
  I believe that if, say, LOTR was to be shown as a swimlane. You could have the characters that come into contact with The Ring as lanes across the diagram. And a line moving from one lane to the next as the ring passes ownership but going from left to right as it stays in their grasp.
  
  The diagrans in the article show, in many ways, the opposite. The lanes come together and separate over time showing who is in contact rather than who is doing what.
  
  --
  If this were really happening, what would you think?
2. Re:Ehm... by bosef1 · 2010-10-08 00:32 · Score: 1
  
  Bite your tongue. "Swimlanes" and "rice bowls" are probably the cause of half of the problems in my office. I understand that it's necessisary to break down an organization into subcomponents in order to make it managable (to avoid a Brooksian catastrophe), but we haven't implemented anything to allow people to easily change lanes (turn signals?). So the only time people come into your "swimlane" is when upper management has decreed it, which means that project is more favored than yours, which means you are going to get dicked over. If we made it easier for lane changes to happen, such that it happened enough that it became commonplace, people wouldn't be so dangerously backstabbing and paranoid.
3. Re:Ehm... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:34 · Score: 0
  
  No, it's not.
it's a nightmare by VincenzoRomano · 2010-10-07 23:53 · Score: 1

Even with SVG!

--
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
1. Re:it's a nightmare by Colonel+Korn · 2010-10-08 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  Even with SVG!
  Yep. Unlike the XKCD version, the graph examples in TFA are unreadable messes of spaghetti lines. While the concept is a great one, this implementation from (naturally) data visualization researcher Michael Ogawa is embarrassing.
  
  --
  "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by JasterBobaMereel · 2010-10-08 00:12 · Score: 1

Mature and Stable can mean that the new functionality is being add in a layer above ....
When you stop adding features to the core and abstract them away into another level then the core can stabilize
The reason most stable projects are dead is because new features are no longer added at all ....

--
Puteulanus fenestra mortis
Its a git graph! by Bluemumba · 2010-10-08 00:21 · Score: 1

Am I the only one who thinks this looks suspiciously like a git commit graph, as represented in gitk/qgit/etc.? Like, a really, really badly managed graph?
Ohloh should give him cash by Dr_Barnowl · 2010-10-08 00:25 · Score: 1

TFA says he'll open source it anyway, but this would be a great addition to the line up of code metrics at Ohloh.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by Kjella · 2010-10-08 00:26 · Score: 2, Insightful

Most of the time. I'd say you are right but there are exceptions. One example is Privoxy. It'a been nearly the same since the 3.0 release in 2002, but there's been constantly tiny little fixes so it's not abandoned and has had an average 175000 downloads/year not including Linux distros etc. so obviously many people find it useful.
So they're not taking over the world. But is there any point to try to be another jack-of-all-trades software? It does one thing and it does it well, or if you'd want to do it differently you probably need to do it in the browser. Either way there's really no reason to make it part of the same application, this one is "done".

--
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Obligatory... by Veggiesama · 2010-10-08 00:40 · Score: 1

http://xkcd.com/657/large/
*shrug* Had to try it.
Primer == Fortran by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:51 · Score: 0

GW Basic, etc.......
Sounds like an excellent design tool!
I have reviewed the provided links by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 00:55 · Score: 0

I understand that the first image from the so-called 'ex kay see dee' world wide web location is referring to popular videograph features that are enjoyed by the younger generation these days, but what is the second link showing? More videographic material? I suspect that it must be a visioning of masterpieces such as 'Cum Guzzlers 2' and 'The More The Merrier 8', including the scene with all of the actors and actresses together in the forest glade (where all the lines in the linked image come together), and including that scene with the two leading ladies and that unfeasibly well hung gentleman.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by marcosdumay · 2010-10-08 01:06 · Score: 1

I completely agree, but anyway, does somebody around here want to volunteer to support GNU truefalse? It simply didn't keep up with the users needs recently.

--
Rethinking email
How about pulp fiction? by Rooked_One · 2010-10-08 01:17 · Score: 1

Try to graph that one for me batman.
1. Re:How about pulp fiction? by VooDoo999 · 2010-10-08 05:18 · Score: 1
  
  It's been done.
Plug for Montessori Elementary by michaelmalak · 2010-10-08 01:21 · Score: 1, Informative

Timelines are a key part of Montessori at the elementary level. Had the researcher attended Montessori school, he would not have had to rely on xkcd :-) See photo of group of students working with a large timeline on Bergamo Academy's home page.
1. Re:Plug for Montessori Elementary by ceoyoyo · 2010-10-08 02:10 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  We did lots of timelines in my perfectly ordinary elementary school a couple of decades ago.
2. Re:Plug for Montessori Elementary by Arthur+Grumbine · 2010-10-08 03:12 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, well, did your elementary school impress upon you an absurd sense of your own self-worth?! Hah! Didn't think so!
  
  --
  Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
3. Re:Plug for Montessori Elementary by ceoyoyo · 2010-10-08 16:38 · Score: 1
  
  Good point. My parents probably didn't get the same satisfaction telling their friends about it either.
ls history by rolando2424 · 2010-10-08 01:50 · Score: 3, Informative

According to this there are 5 files that start with "ls".
Except for ls.c, all those files have only one entry on their history. The "initial revision" on 1993-06-16.
On the other hand, you can check the history of ls by yourself. Ignoring a "build" commit done on 2010-09-18 (and by the same guy who did the "initial revision" ones), the last commit is from 2010-07-01 with the message header of "ls: use the POSIX date style when the locale does not specify one".
While not extremely important, it does show that ls keeps receiving updates to this day.

--
Okay seriously I've just run out of pointless things to say.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by elsJake · 2010-10-08 01:57 · Score: 1

Or qmail for that matter.
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by Guignol · 2010-10-08 02:05 · Score: 1

this is hilarious, awesome, not so untrue, just as cynic as I like it to be
thanks
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by leonardluen · 2010-10-08 02:07 · Score: 2, Funny

ls is boring, they should add a feature "ls --im-feeling-lucky" to list a random directory to add some spice back into it.
How is this mind-blowing? by Delusion_ · 2010-10-08 02:44 · Score: 1

It's a chaotic mess. If a data visualization technique doesn't bring clarity to a subject, but instead just results in a Jackson Pollock jumble, what exactly is it?
Is it art? If this is its primary goal, I have no argument.
If it, however, is meant to clarify the history and relationships of principals involved with the creation and maintenance of a program's codebase, it's a complete failure. There is no clarity here, less so than even a simple table would provide.
Re:inspiration (perspiration) by rapiddescent · 2010-10-08 02:47 · Score: 1

prior art:
Charles Joseph Minard, a french civil servant drew a fantastic line/statistical diagram showing data from Napoleon's March to Russia on the 20th November 1869. This combines many data points and also shows the horrific losses sustained by Napoleon during the winter (and river crossings) and is actually far more complex than examples in TFA.
1. invent new idea
2. write about it on interwebs
3. ...
4. ... (think about profit and all round cleverness)
5. ....
6. errr?
7. .....
8. !profit
8a. because lots of slightly older nerds have seen it all before.
8b. and see you for the young whipper-snapper that you are, wee laddie.
paul by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 04:01 · Score: 0

You should also check out Gource, a very cool software version control visualization tool. http://code.google.com/p/gource/. Here is a video I made using it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77GLamoVtiU
Re:It would be useful to see this on mature projet by IorDMUX · 2010-10-08 04:16 · Score: 1

Very often it is difficult to see at a glance whether a project is mature and stable or just dead. It would be interesting to see whether this type of visualisation can tell you at a glance how healthy the project is. If so it would be nice to have this view on sourceforge, etc.
Hmm... Would someone mind attempting to apply this view to Team Gizka's TSLRP for Knights of the Old Republic II?

I'd be curious to see how *that* turns out.

--
>> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
Re:How about pulp fiction? Easy. Try time travel by cyberfunkr · 2010-10-08 05:51 · Score: 1

Just because the movie is out of order doesn't make the storyline graph particularly hard. In fact, after watching the movie once or twice you're already picturing the graph in your head.
Instead, try doing something like the "Back To The Future" series; characters meetings change based on the revision of history, characters loop back to see themselves, the same encounters happen with different generations of the same family.
Now you're thinking with portals.
Missing persons by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 06:20 · Score: 0

What happened to.....
PostgreSQL:
tgl
petere
Apache:
stoddard
slive
wrowe ...and all the others I've missed.
Tsk tsk by Anonymous Coward · 2010-10-08 06:21 · Score: 0

Technically, you misspelled xkcd. Check the about page on the website.
Re:Timeline for Primer by rwa2 · 2010-10-08 07:19 · Score: 1

Huh, thanks. Original link still works for me, but probably someone trying to break the internets with URL referral checks or something. .. Or just trying to break hotlinking ^_^
If only I could go back in time and make things right... there must be some movie about that or something...
Re: Superbly executed by duane_robertson · 2010-10-08 08:40 · Score: 1

I agree that it was well executed, but a few issues leapt out at me so fast that it kind of killed the humor of the thing. Saruman's path ends at Isengard. Ugh. Yes, I know the movie only vaguely resembled the books, but it still irks me every time I'm reminded of it.