This paper presented a framework for visualizing object-oriented systems. It consists of a compact, flexible notation for specifying layout of graphical objects. This notation is fully integrated into a Lisp environment based on CLOS. Advantages of this TeX-like notation are its expressiveness, user-predictable layouts, and efficient implementation schemes. The CLOS meta-level architecture is used to associate visualization and application objects. Supported techniques are indirect values, slot and method demons, and instance-specific meta-objects. These visualization techniques require no source code modifications to the systems selected for visualization.
Next steps might be to combine the advantages of TeX-style notations with the general flexibility of constraint systems. Another useful extension might be to support local variables in box specifications (see section 2.4). We also plan to address the problem of interpreting compound events (see Section 5.5) in more detail. Furthermore, research is necessary to extend this approach to 2-1/2 or 3-D layout.