Grand Challenges of Traceability: The Next Ten Years

In 2007, the software and systems traceability community met at the first Natural Bridge symposium on the Grand Challenges of Traceability to establish and address research goals for achieving effective, trustworthy, and ubiquitous traceability. Ten years later, in 2017, the community came together to evaluate a decade of progress towards achieving these goals. These proceedings document some of that progress. They include a series of short position papers, representing current work in the community organized across four process axes of traceability practice. The sessions covered topics from Trace Strategizing, Trace Link Creation and Evolution, Trace Link Usage, real-world applications of Traceability, and Traceability Datasets and benchmarks. Two breakout groups focused on the importance of creating and sharing traceability datasets within the research community, and discussed challenges related to the adoption of tracing techniques in industrial practice. Members of the research community are engaged in many active, ongoing, and impactful research projects. Our hope is that ten years from now we will be able to look back at a productive decade of research and claim that we have achieved the overarching Grand Challenge of Traceability, which seeks for traceability to be always present, built into the engineering process, and for it to have "effectively disappeared without a trace". We hope that others will see the potential that traceability has for empowering software and systems engineers to develop higher-quality products at increasing levels of complexity and scale, and that they will join the active community of Software and Systems traceability researchers as we move forward into the next decade of research

Grand Challenges of Traceability: The Next Ten Years

In 2007, the software and systems traceability community met at the first Natural Bridge symposium on the Grand Challenges of Traceability to establish and address research goals for achieving effective, trustworthy, and ubiquitous traceability. Ten years later, in 2017, the community came together to evaluate a decade of progress towards achieving these goals. These proceedings document some of that progress. They include a series of short position papers, representing current work in the community organized across four process axes of traceability practice. The sessions covered topics from Trace Strategizing, Trace Link Creation and Evolution, Trace Link Usage, real-world applications of Traceability, and Traceability Datasets and benchmarks. Two breakout groups focused on the importance of creating and sharing traceability datasets within the research community, and discussed challenges related to the adoption of tracing techniques in industrial practice. Members of the research community are engaged in many active, ongoing, and impactful research projects. Our hope is that ten years from now we will be able to look back at a productive decade of research and claim that we have achieved the overarching Grand Challenge of Traceability, which seeks for traceability to be always present, built into the engineering process, and for it to have "effectively disappeared without a trace". We hope that others will see the potential that traceability has for empowering software and systems engineers to develop higher-quality products at increasing levels of complexity and scale, and that they will join the active community of Software and Systems traceability researchers as we move forward into the next decade of research

Automated recognition of design patterns for framework understanding

System design is one of the most important tasks in the software development cycles but it is also one of the most complex and time-consuming tasks. Thus, reuse of existing designs becomes very important. Object-oriented frameworks are generic designs for specific application domains that enable the reuse of designs and domain expert experience. In spite of this, frameworks are not simple to reuse because they are difficult to comprehend, mainly due to a lack of good documentation and supporting tools. In this work, an approach to framework comprehension based on the automated recognition and visualization of design patterns is presented. A tool was built to support this approach, by trying to automatically identify and explain the potentia~ patterns existing in a given designo Experimental results and conclusions of tool utilization are also presented

An agile model-driven method for involving end-users in DSL development

[EN] Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are considered to be a powerful tool for enhancing the efficiency of software developers and bring software development closer to end-users from complex domains. However, the successful development of a DSL for a complex domain is a challenge from the technical point of view and because end-user acceptance is key. Despite this fact, the relevant role of end-users during DSL development has traditionally been neglected. Normally, end-users participate at the beginning to communicate their preferences but they do not participate again until the DSL is completely implemented. As a consequence, if the language to develop reaches a complex domain, the chances that errors appear in the DSL are higher and solving them could involve large modifications that could have been avoided. As a solution, in this PhD thesis, we propose an agile, model-driven method to involve end-users in DSL development. This thesis researches if the combination of best practices from the model-driven development (MDD) discipline and best practices from agile methods is a suitable approach to involve end-users in the DSL development process. In order to validate the proposal, we have selected a highly complex domain such as the genetic analysis domain and we have collaborated with geneticists from three organizations. The proposed method has been used to involve these geneticists in the development of a DSL for the creation of genetic analysis pipelines. Simultaneously, we have carried out an empirical experiment to validate whether end-users and developers were satisfied with the proposal.[ES] Los lenguajes específicos de dominio (DSLs) son una herramienta muy potente para mejorar la eficiencia de los desarrolladores de software, así como para acercar el desarrollo software a usuarios sin conocimientos informáticos. Sin embargo, su principal problema es que desarrollar un DSL es complejo; no sólo desde el punto de vista técnico, sino especialmente porque la aceptación de dicho lenguaje por parte de los usuarios finales es clave. A pesar de este hecho, los métodos tradicionales de desarrollo de DSLs no enfatizan el importante rol de los usuarios finales durante el desarrollo. Normalmente, los usuarios participan al inicio para comunicar sus preferencias, pero no vuelven a participar hasta que el DSL está completamente desarrollado. Si el lenguaje a desarrollar aborda un dominio complejo, la posibilidad de que existan errores en el DSL es mayor, y su solución podría conllevar a modificaciones de gran calibre que podrían haberse evitado. Como solución, en esta tesis proponemos un método de desarrollo de DSLs, ágil, y dirigido por modelos que involucra a los usuarios finales. Esta tesis investiga si la combinación de buenas prácticas del desarrollo dirigido por modelos (MDD) y de buenas prácticas de métodos ágiles es adecuada para involucrar a los usuarios finales en el desarrollo de DSLs. Para validar la idoneidad de la propuesta, se ha seleccionado un dominio complejo como el de los análisis genéticos y se ha colaborado con un conjunto de genetistas procedentes de tres organizaciones. El método propuesto se ha utilizado para involucrar a dichos genetistas en el desarrollo de un DSL para la creación de pipelines para el análisis genético. Conjuntamente, se ha llevado a cabo un experimento empírico para validar si los usuarios finales y los desarrolladores están satisfechos con la propuesta de la presente tesis. En resumen, las contribuciones principales de esta tesis doctoral son el diseño e implementación de un método innovador, ágil y dirigido por modelos para involucrar a los usuarios finales en el desarrollo de DSLs, así como la validación de dicha propuesta en un entorno industrial en un desarrollo real de un DSL.[CA] Els llenguatges específics de domini (DSLs) son una ferramenta molt potent per a millorar l'eficiència dels desenvolupadors de programari, així com per a apropar el desenvolupament de programari a usuaris sense coneixements informàtics. El problema es que desenvolupar un DSL es complex, no sols des del punt de vista tècnic, sinó especialment perquè l'acceptació de dit llenguatge per part dels usuaris finals es clau. Malgrat aquest fet, els mètodes tradicionals de desenvolupament de DSLs no emfatitzen l'important rol dels usuaris finals durant el desenvolupament. Normalment, els usuaris participen a l'inici per a comunicar les seues preferències, però no tornen a participar fins que el DSL està completament desenvolupat. Si el llenguatge a desenvolupar aborda un domini complex, la possibilitat de que hi hagen errors en el DSL es major i solucionar-los podria implicar modificacions de gran calibre que podrien haver-se evitat. Com a solució, en aquesta tesis proposem un mètode de desenvolupament de DSLs, àgil i dirigit per models que involucra als usuaris finals. Aquesta tesis investiga si la combinació de bones pràctiques del desenvolupament dirigit per models (MDD) i de bones pràctiques de mètodes àgils es adequada per a involucrar els usuaris finals en el desenvolupament de DSLs. Per a validar la idoneïtat de la proposta, s'ha seleccionat un domini complex com el dels anàlisis genètics i s'ha col·laborat amb un conjunt de genetistes procedents de tres organitzacions. El mètode s'ha utilitzat per a involucrar a dits genetistes en el desenvolupament d'un DSL per a la creació de pipelines per al anàlisis genètic. Al mateix temps, s'ha dut a terme un experiment empíric per a validar si tant els usuaris finals com els desenvolupadors estan satisfets amb la proposta de la present tesis. En resum, les contribucions principals d'aquesta tesis doctoral son el disseny i implementació d'un mètode innovador, àgil i dirigit per models per a involucrar als usuaris finals en el desenvolupament de DSLs, així com la validació de la proposta en un entorn industrial amb un desenvolupament real d'un DSL.Villanueva Del Pozo, MJ. (2016). An agile model-driven method for involving end-users in DSL development [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/60156TESI