Frances: A tool for learning code generation and execution

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News

December 2010: Paper on Frances-A tool accepted for CCSC 2011.

September 2010: Initial release of Frances-A tool.

March 2010: Support added for MIPS assembly and x86 intel syntax.

January 2010: Tutorial on Frances tool accepted for CCSC 2010.

October 2009: Paper on Frances tool accepted for SIGCSE 2010.

August 2009: Technical Report: Frances: A Tool For Understanding Code Generation , ISU, 2009.

Similar Control Flow Tools

Here is a collection of control flow tools similar to Frances. If you know of a tool not listed here, please let us know.

  • ICD-C: Gives colored basic blocks annotated with source code in a standard graph format
    Our tool differs in the way blocks are layed out. We display blocks in the same way they are layed out by a code generator. Also, our blocks are annotated with assembly code. We do this to help understand the code generation process.
  • Avora: Gives shaped nodes to represent procedure entry points, etc. in a standard graph format
    Our tool again differs in the way blocks are layed out. We also perform a very different graph coloring based on what control structures blocks are a part of. Finally, we annotate blocks with code rather than addresses.
  • SUIF
  • aiSee: Is a very powerful tool that created a wide range of graphs. One such example is a control flow graph. However, graphs are shown similar to a flow chart and nodes are annotated with source code.