The JAWAA Homepage

Java and Web based Algorithm Animation

JAWAA is a scripting language for creating animations on the web easily. Written in Java, the program provides an interface through which users can write animations and then display them with any web browser that supports Java. The animations are written by users in a simple script language that can easily be learned by people with little or no programming experience. For more advanced users, JAWAA commands can be added to their program to quickly produce an animation of a data structure such as an array, stack, queue, graph or tree. That is, JAWAA commands can be added to a program written in any programming language to produce a JAWAA output file that is called from a web page and produces the animation.

A component of JAWAA is the JAWAA editor. This editor allows one to lay out animations graphically by laying out objects, and then modifying them across time. The editor then has the ability to export the animations to an .anim file, a text document with commands, that displays the animation in a web browser as an applet. The purpose of the editor is to make the creation of animations easier. Configuration of the location of the objects is automatic as opposed to having to plug in coordinate values and working based on trial and error. Once the animation is exported to an .anim file, it can be combined with or edited as animations hand-written in JAWAA. This is useful because it reduces the time to create the animation and it allows animation files to be combined.

To use JAWAA you will need to get the source code, copy and modify an initial web page and then generate a script file.

Below are links for the source code, the JAWAA 2.0 manual page, help on getting started, sample files and several example animations that use JAWAA 2.0. On each example page there is a link to the animation script which drives the animation at the bottom of the web page.

How is JAWAA 2.0 different than the old JAWAA?

Some of the scripting language has changed, so old JAWAA code may not work in JAWAA 2.0.
There is now a JAWAA Editor that allows you to create complex objects and their placement first. Then you can combine this file with file from your program that moves the objects around.

Tip on using JAWAA

When developing a JAWAA animation, select "SHOW JAVA CONSOLE WINDOW" on your browser and you will see the JAWAA commands displayed as they are executed.

Setting up a Jawaa Animation

Using the Jawaa Editor

Jawaa Editor overview and help page

More Animations:

CPS 49S 2001student projects from spring 2001 CPS49s
CPS 49S 2002 students projects from spring 2002 CPS49S

Jawaa Papers:

S. H. Rodger, Using Hands-on Visualizations to Teach Computer Science from Beginning Courses to Advanced Courses, Second Program Visualization Workshop, Hornstrup Centert, Denmark, (6 pages) June 2002. pdf
S. H. Rodger, Introducing Computer Science Through Animation and Virtual Worlds, Thirty-third SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, p. 186-190, 2002. pdf
W. Pierson and S. H. Rodger, Web-based Animation of Data Structures Using JAWAA, Twenty-ninth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, p. 267-271, 1998. ps or pdf

Jawaa Talks:

Using Hands-On Visualizations to Teach Computer Science from Beginning Courses to Advanced Courses, Second Program Visualization Workshop, HornstrupCentret, Denmark, June 28, 2002. html
Introducing Computer Science Through Animation and Virtual Worlds, Thirty-third SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 1, 2002. html
Using JFLAP for Visualization and Interaction in the Automata Theory Course, and JAWAA for automatic animation of data structures, Dagstuhl, Germany, May 25, 2001. html
Integrating Visualization and Animation into the Teaching of Computer Science Courses, The Advance Program, Duke University, February 26, 2001 html

Who are the creators and developers of JAWAA?

The original JAWAA was created at Duke University by Professor Susan Rodger and Duke undergraduate Will Pierson. Since then many undergraduate students have worked on JAWAA including: Pretesh Patel, Thomas Finley, Diana Jackson, and Ayonike Akingbade.

Contact Info:

There is a mailing list for JAWAA that will include updates. To get on the mailing list send mail to rodger@cs.duke.edu. We also like to hear about your use of JAWAA. Send us animations and we will put them on our example animations page.

Comments can be sent to rodger@cs.duke.edu.