Algorithm visualization served off the World Wide Web: why and how Thomas L. Naps Dept. of Computer Science Lawrence University P.O. Box 599 Appleton WI 54912 napst @lawrence.edu Abstract An algorithm visualization (AV) system depicts the execution of an algorithm as a sequence of graphical snapshots, the viewing of which is controlled by the user. Visualizations produced by such systems have the potential to be a tremendous help to students if educators can develop effective explanatory materials to accompany them. An excellent way of distributing such complementary materials is to make them available on the World Wide Web, where they can serve as launching documents for visualizations that may be downloaded from remote sites. This paper presents a rationale for developing such Web materials and suggests several methodologies for integrating them with a variety of AV systems. discussion in Sections 2 and 3 of this paper. For now however, we direct our attention to an analysis of the documented success (or lack thereof) of AV as a pedagogic tool. Although we feel that our use of AV in laboratory exercises has improved students understanding of concepts, we are also disappointed that it hasn t done more.
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