Interactive Visualization Design for Calling Context Trees in Jupyter Notebooks: A Hybrid Scripting Workflow

Concepts de base

Integrating interactive visualization and scripting in notebook environments, specifically for analyzing calling context trees in performance analysis, requires careful consideration of task specificity and frequency to leverage the strengths of both interaction modes.

Résumé

• Bibliographic Information: Scully-Allison, C., Lumsden, I., Williams, K., Bartels, J., Taufer, M., Brink, S., Bhatele, A., Pearce, O., & Isaacs, K. E. (2015). Design Concerns for Integrated Scripting and Interactive Visualization in Notebook Environments. JOURNAL OF LATEX CLASS FILES, VOL. 14, NO. 8, AUGUST 2015.
• Research Objective: This research investigates the design and evaluation of an interactive visualization tool integrated within a scripting environment (Jupyter notebooks) to support the analysis of calling context trees (CCTs) in performance analysis. The authors aim to understand how to effectively combine direct manipulation and scripting to support the complex exploratory data analysis workflows common in this domain.
• Methodology: The authors conducted a design study involving interviews with performance analysts, task analysis, iterative design of a notebook-embedded CCT visualization, and user evaluations. They focused on characterizing tasks based on specificity, frequency, and suitability for visualization or scripting. The designed visualization features a node-link diagram with bivariate encoding, interactive pruning, and two-way data flow between the visualization and scripting cells.
• Key Findings: The study found that an augmented task analysis considering task specificity and frequency helped anticipate user needs for flexibility and workflow. The designed visualization, with its support for both manual and automatic updating modes, was well-received by performance analysis experts. Participants successfully completed evaluation tasks, derived meaningful insights, and expressed a preference for the automatic updating mode for its efficiency.
• Main Conclusions: The research highlights the importance of considering both visualization and scripting in exploratory workflows for technical users. The authors recommend a hybrid approach where task assignment to each modality is based on specificity and frequency. The study demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of integrating interactive visualization within scripting environments like Jupyter notebooks for performance analysis and similar data science domains.
• Significance: This research contributes to the growing field of integrated scripting and visualization design, particularly within notebook environments. The proposed task analysis approach and design considerations provide valuable guidance for developing tools that support complex exploratory data analysis workflows.
• Limitations and Future Research: The study was limited by the number of participants and their varying familiarity with Jupyter notebooks. Future research could explore the design of more explicit state management mechanisms within the notebook environment to address the observed difficulties in tracking data state. Further investigation into the long-term use and adoption of such hybrid visualization-scripting tools would also be beneficial.

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Idées clés tirées de

Design Concerns for Integrated Scripting and Interactive Visualization in Notebook Environments

by Connor Scull... à arxiv.org 10-18-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.04557.pdf