Debugging parallel programs using sound

Abstract

Portrayingthe behavior of parallel programs can be done in a variety of ways. One way is to generate a graphical display related to the program's behavior so that a user can visualize what happens during the program's execution.As an alternative to visualization, auralization can also be used to portray the behavior of parallel programs.This paper explores how sound can be used to depict different events that take place during a parallel program's execution.In particular, the discussion is focused on dis@ibuted-memory parallel programs.Three mappings of execution behavior to sound were studied. The first mapping is related to process communication in a distributed-memory parallel program. The second mapping tracks the load balance of the processors of a system, In the third mapping, the flows-ofcontrol of the parallel processes are mapped to related sounds.

Multimodal geographic information systems: Adding haptic and auditory display

“…Such auditory variables can be related to the level of error with different parameters. Francioni, Albright, & Jackson (1991) found that visual portrayals can be enhanced by sound in certain kinds of parallel programming behavior. Mynatt (1997) said that sighted computer users could also benefit from auditory representations of graphic interfaces while performing eye-busy tasks such as driving, performing maintenance on a airplane, or inspecting a manufacturing plant.…”

“…She also noted that when the pattern is played in any one key, it is heard as ascending by some listeners but as descending by others. Francioni et al (1991) emphasized that the sound should be appropriate to make vision enhanced by sound. If it is perceived as noise, it will only interfere with the interpretation of vision.…”

“…Studies show that multimodality is not always better than unimodality and the effectiveness of multimodality depends on the type or the situation of each task (Brewster et al, 1994;Francioni et al, 1991;Jeung et al, 1997;Storms, 2000). Researchers emphasize complementarity of modalities rather than replacement of modes as the preferred task for multimodality.…”

Program auralization

“…Researchers had focused on the technical novelty of mapping program data to sound [e.g., see Sonnenwald et al 1990;DiGiano and Baecker 1992;Francioni et al 1991;Jackson and Francioni 1994;Jameson 1994;Mathur et al 1994] without formally evaluating its efficacy. In 1995 Bock [1995] reported a debugging experiment with his Auditory Domain Specification Language.…”

Using music as a communication medium

“…The possibility of using musical output for debugging has already been suggested by Francioni [9] for debugging a parallel processor message system. They point out that the musical representation can highlight situations which could easily be missed in the visual representation (no doubt there are also cases in the reverse direction).…”