As visualizations have become more dependent on intricate computer code running on large arrays of parallel processors, users have benefited from software tools that allow them to graphically depict complex natural or technical processes. Now, a new visualization technique is also enabling them to view the underlying program's activity and information flow to better understand and troubleshoot their simulations. Developed at the University of New Mexico's Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center (AHPCC), the new tool is meant to give users the ability to immersively enter and interact with software systems and simulations like a "little person in the brain of the machine"―akin to the "homunculus," a mythic creature once thought to reside inside the human mind, hence the overall designation of the Center's Homunculus Project. The software environment itself, used for viewing both simulations and their data flow, is called Flatland, an allusion to Edward Abbott's nineteenth-century novel of interdimensional fantasy.
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