Visualizing Algorithms

Bret Victor suggests in his fascinating talk that the current programming paradigm involves "playing computer", insofar as we must envision how a computer will interpret code as we build up more and more complex ideas.  It's clear that most human minds cannot immediately internalize complex ideas -- this is why teaching is about breaking down subjects into digestible modules, often with visual aids.

Although the materials in a class like Tim Roughgarden's Algorithms: Design and Analysis are extremely well presented, I can't help but think that for topics like graph search and dynamic programming, visualizations could be an additional, effective tool for helping students learn.

I tried my hand at creating one such visualization -- the algorithm is for finding the longest palindromic substrings within a given string, e.g. "racecar" within "red hot racecar".  Here's the link.