Program Visualization at the System Level

University of Notre DameDirk Van Bruggen and Jian Mu

The Problem

Simple programs can be complex

Commands offer a look into the system calls

Output is difficult to decipher

How does the program run?

What files/resources are used?

The Solution

Create a program to assist in visualizations Create a Data Pipeline

Create Modules for each stage

commands parser Data processor

visualizer

Implementation

• Written in a combination of Python and C++

• Data Processing Modules

• Pull out size of data read

• Calculate IO Rate per files

• Calculate Time spent on each file

• Sum up the total time taken for all system calls

Usage Example

All-pairs program:

Compare_bitdumb

Set A Set B

Matrix M

File size = 100M

Visualization App

Visualization App

Visualization App

Visualization App

Test Results

CPU utilization over time

Test Results (contd.)

Memory utilization over time

Test Results (contd.)

Load average in the last one minute

How Much Overhead?

User Study

• Small Study – 4 testers

• Results

• Raw strace – Information is too dense

• Time consuming to find total file sizes

• Viz App is easier to find total file sizes• Range of improvement answers.

Future Work

• Ideas from user study:

• Labeling Function

• Zoom Problems

• Display call details

• Display time spent opening and reading per file

• Easier expansion of directories

Questions?