galant

Note: The ncsu_final branch has some new features, but has not been thoroughly tested

This software is licensed by a Gnu Public License. See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html for details.

If you have questions, comments or bugs to report, please contact me at mfms@ncsu.edu

New: There is a JavaScript version of Galant under development. It can be accessed as a web app at galant.csc.ncsu.edu and the source code downloaded at github.com/mfms-ncsu/galant-js

You can run Galant immediately by opening a terminal window, going to the galant home directory and executing:

java -jar build/jar/Galant.jar

or (in Windows)
java -jar build\jar\Galant.jar

Make sure that

• you have a JDK installed (Java Development Kit)
• the JAVA_HOME environment variable is set properly; typical locations (Mac) /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.x.x.jdk/Contents/Home/ (Windows) C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.x.x (Linux) don't need to do anything special on most Linux/Unix systems

Otherwise you may get an exception (null pointer or unexpected) from edu.ncsu.csc.Galant.algorithm.code.CompilerAndLoader.compile Galant needs to be able to fire up a Java compiler while it is running.

You may want to (re)compile everything, either because you edited and changed some of the details in the source files, or, if you use GitHub to keep up with the latest changes, you need Apache ant. Once that is installed, say

    ant jar

After that you can run Galant with

    ant run

Before you do a 'git pull' you should first either do 'ant clean' or remove the file build/jar/Galant.jar (build\jar\Galant.jar)

Simple Instructions

• Use File->Open to open an algorithm or a graph
• algorithms are in the Algorithms folder, graphs in Example-Graphs or, for sorting algorithms, the 0-SortingGraphs folder below that
• To run an algorithm on a graph, make sure the (drawing of the) graph is in the graph window and the (text of the) algorithm in the text window
• Click Compile and Run or Run (if the algorithm is already compiled)
• Click in the graph window
• The left/right arrow keys are used to move forward/backward in the algorithm; holding them down allows you to control speed
• The escape key stops the animation

Use File->Preferences->Open/Save to set the default starting directory for file browsing.

Testing (see testingGalant.docx for more details)

First set the home directory for opening and saving files File -> Preferences -> Open/Save to the top level directory of Galant so that all the relevant files are easy to get to.

Then do the following test runs. Each time, open the algorithm and the graph files and first hit compile when the text window shows the algorithm and Run when the text window shows the algorithm and the graph window shows the graph. The algorithms are in the Algorithms folder and the graphs in Example-Graphs.

Algorithm	Graph
dfs_d.alg	eight_node_graph.graphml
interactive_dfs	"
dijkstra.alg	weighted_example.graphml
insertion_sort.alg	0-SortingGraphs/sorting_test.graphml
binary_tree.alg	an empty graph

Notes:

• for dijkstra.alg try both the directed and undirected version of the graph (use Ctrl-d to toggle)
• to create an empty graph click on left arrow below File until untitled graph appears

For more information and links to important resources, see 0-index.html.

Note about the name. Aside from being an acronym for graph algorithm animation tool, Galant (pronounced gahlahnt -accent on second syllable) is a term for a musical style that featured a return to classical simplicity after the complexity of the late Baroque era. We hope to achieve the same in our approach to algorithm animation.

Major Contributors

• Matthias Stallmann, designer and lead developer
• Senior Design Team, Fall 2013: Jason Cockrell, Ty Devries, Alex McCabe, Michael Owoc
• Independent study students, Summer 2016: Weijia Li, Yuang Ni and Kai Pressler-Marshall
• Senior Design Team, Spring 2021: Samy Bencherif, Shengdong Chen, Tianxin Jia, Ji Li and Qihao Lu. Note: The contributions of this team have not been merged into the main branch; they are in the development branch