A method for automatically drawing general directed graphs of communicating sequential programs is presented. The primary reason for developing the heuristic was to create a user tool, called the Graphics Support System, for describing and documenting software configurations. These are graphs of nodes of processes in a message based system. A drawing of a configuration contains three main elements: nodes representing processes, arcs representing Data Transfer Streams which interconnect nodes, and ports where arcs connect to nodes. A heuristic for converting a graph description into a set of objects that form a picture is the major contribution of this document. The heuristic combines related nodes to form objects, then defines the different shapes that can be used to draw each object. After a shape for each object has been selected by the computer or the user, the picture is drawn by placing each object in the picture at the proper relative position. Once the objects have been arranged properly, the GSS will automatically draw all of the arcs, ports, and text. Finally, the picture is displayed on a selected device.
