Elektronik und Informatik
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Databases are becoming an ubiquitous and integral part of most software as the data era and the Internet of Everything unfolds. Alternative database types such as NoSQL grow in popularity and allow data to be stored and accessed more simply or in new ways. Thus, software developers, not just database specialists, are more likely to encounter and need to deal with databases. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has grown in popularity, yet its integration in the software development tool chain has been limited. One potential application area for VR technology that has not been sufficiently explored is database-model visualization. This paper describes Virtual Reality Immersion in Data Models (VRiDaM), a generic database-model approach for visualizing, navigating, and conveying database-model information interactively. It describes and explores both native VR and WebVR solution concepts, with prototypes showing the viability of the approach.
Enterprise Architecture (EA) Frameworks (EAFs) have attempted to support comprehensive and cohesive modeling and documentation of the enterprise. However, these EAFs were not conceived for today’s rapidly digitalized enterprises and the associated IT complexity. A digitally-centric EAF is needed, freed from the past restrictive EAF paradigms and embracing the new potential in a data-centric world. This paper proposes an alternative EAF that is digital, holistic, and digitally sustainable - the Digital Diamond Framework. D2F is designed for responsive and agile enterprises, for aligning business plans and initiatives with the actual enterprise state, and addressing the needs of EA for digitized structure, order, modeling, and documentation. The feasibility of D2F is demonstrated with a prototype implementation of an EA tool that applies its principles, showing how the framework can be practically realized, while a case study based on ArchiSurance example and an initial performance and scalability characterization provide additional insights as to its viability.
As the size of software program code bases in software development projects increases, insight into and comprehension of their underlying dependency structures presents a challenge for programmers. The increasing availability of virtual reality (VR) systems brings VR-based visualization of program code structures into practical reach for software developers and could support program comprehension and insight. However, the complete visual immersion with VR presents a cognitive burden and potential distractions. Applying gamification to such a VR visualization capability has hitherto been insufficiently investigated as to its potential motivation and program comprehension factors. This paper describes and evaluates a VR digital gamification approach for program code called VR Gamified Immersion in Software structures (VR-GaImS), which applies digital gamification to a multi-metaphor VR visualization of software program structures. The results of a preliminary empirical investigation utilizing our prototype indicate its potential to increase enjoyment and motivation, focus attention, and encourage the exploration of software structures.