Improving the application development process with modular visualization environments

Modular Visualization Environments (MVE) such as the Application Visualization System(AVS TM) are well known in scientific and engineering communities as powerful tools for the visualization and analysis of technical data.More recently, tools such as AVS are gaining broader acceptance for general purpose application development.We believe that in order for MVEs to be successful visualization environments, they must first be good application development systems.This paper will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Modular Visualization Environments in certain aspects of the application development process.