Exploring Hidden Worlds: Investigating a New Future of Code by Northeastern University

For many, understanding code is difficult, and yet it is the backbone of the devices we continue to rely on every day. At the same time as code has grown in complexity. Exploring Hidden Worlds introduces a new materiality to explore and see how all the different parts of software work together. By presenting code visually in 3D space, users are encouraged to explore and pick out the pieces they find most interesting. The increasing complexity and interdependency of modern software calls for a new need to make sense of it. Both for the people writing the newest software updates, and perhaps more importantly, those who use digital technology as a byproduct of the time we live in. The visual representation attempts to show one possibility of the ways code can be mapped, and to open the doors for new methods of understanding our symbiotic relationship to digital technology.

The visualization was built using ThreeJS and D3.js and allows users to pan, zoom, and filter the 3D network. Using a custom static analysis tool, Exploring Hidden Worlds shows the connections between code from how classes and functions are nested within files and folders, and how files reference one another within a piece of software. The interface showcases two ways to interact with the visualized code, a 2D dendogram showing a radial view of the structure of the code, and the 3D network. Both visualizations inform each other and provide multiple ways to interact with the data and allow for further information granularity when clicking on nodes. The project first began as an Honors in the Discipline independent student which was then supported by a by a PEAK award offered by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowship at Northeastern University.