Is there a tool that takes a short Lisp code snippet and then generate a series of box diagrams to represent state for each step of the code?
I am thinking of something like this: Online Python Tutor.
Something like this can be good for answering newbie Lisp questions. A lot of newbie questions are based on confusion on one or more of the following:
implications of pass by sharing
shared structure
destructive functions
all of which can be demonstrated easily and visually by invoking such a tool. I wouldn't have to draw a box diagram to help a fellow newbie, I could just generate the diagrams by feeding the newbie's code or my example code into that tool. I wouldn't have to hope that the newbie would know words like reference, same object, different object, object identity, fresh cons, because the diagrams would tell the whole story, even help explain what those words mean.
