AAnim: An animation engine for visualizing algorithms and data structures for educators

Abstract

Video streaming platforms are a major source of information for computer science students, where data structures and algorithms can be illustrated by means of animation. Our Python library, AAnim, aids a content creator in making such videos without any special expertise. Given a list of data structure queries or an input graph, our library creates a high-quality video that illustrates both how the data structure evolves and how these changes occur in the algorithm's pseudocode. The data structure's layout is generated automatically, further alleviating the difficulty in creating such videos. Example animations are available at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-UJL8NI-eS5HQDoomg1rMfou5eO-OwuP.