5,360 research outputs found
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Reusability in software engineering
This paper surveys recent work concerning reusability in software engineering. The current directions in software reusability are discussed, and the two major approaches of reusable building blocks and reusable patterns studied. An extensive bibliography, parts of which are annotated, is included
A Value-Driven Framework for Software Architecture
Software that is not aligned with the business values of the organization for which it
was developed does not entirely fulfill its raison d’etre. Business values represent what
is important in a company, or organization, and should influence the overall software
system behavior, contributing to the overall success of the organization. However, approaches
to derive a software architecture considering the business values exchanged
between an organization and its market players are lacking. Our quest is to address this
problem and investigate how to derive value-centered architectural models systematically.
We used the Technology Research method to address this PhD research question.
This methodological approach proposes three steps: problem analysis, innovation, and
validation. The problem analysis was performed using systematic studies of the literature
to obtain full coverage on the main themes of this work, particularly, business value
modeling, software architecture methods, and software architecture derivation methods.
Next, the innovation step was accomplished by creating a framework for the derivation
of a software reference architecture model considering an organization’s business values.
The resulting framework is composed of three core modules: Business Value Modeling,
Agile Reference Architecture Modeling, and Goal-Driven SOA Architecture Modeling.
While the Business value modeling module focuses on building a stakeholder-centric
business specification, the Agile Reference Architecture Modeling and the Goal-Driven
SOA Architecture Modeling modules concentrate on generating a software reference architecture
aligned with the business value specification. Finally, the validation part of
our framework is achieved through proof-of-concept prototypes for three new domain
specific languages, case studies, and quasi-experiments, including a family of controlled
experiments. The findings from our research show that the complexity and lack of rigor
in the existing approaches to represent business values can be addressed by an early requirements
specification method that represents the value exchanges of a business. Also,
by using sophisticated model-driven engineering techniques (e.g., metamodels, model
transformations, and model transformation languages), it was possible to obtain source
generators to derive a software architecture model based on early requirements value
models, while assuring traceability throughout the architectural derivation process. In conclusion, despite using sophisticated techniques, the derivation process of a software
reference architecture is helped by simple to use methods supported by black box
transformations and guidelines that facilitate the activities for the less experienced software
architects. The experimental validation process used confirmed that our framework
is feasible and perceived as easy to use and useful, also indicating that the participants
of the experiments intend to use it in the future
Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design
The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface
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Next generation software environments : principles, problems, and research directions
The past decade has seen a burgeoning of research and development in software environments. Conferences have been devoted to the topic of practical environments, journal papers produced, and commercial systems sold. Given all the activity, one might expect a great deal of consensus on issues, approaches, and techniques. This is not the case, however. Indeed, the term "environment" is still used in a variety of conflicting ways. Nevertheless substantial progress has been made and we are at least nearing consensus on many critical issues.The purpose of this paper is to characterize environments, describe several important principles that have emerged in the last decade or so, note current open problems, and describe some approaches to these problems, with particular emphasis on the activities of one large-scale research program, the Arcadia project. Consideration is also given to two related topics: empirical evaluation and technology transition. That is, how can environments and their constituents be evaluated, and how can new developments be moved effectively into the production sector
A commentary on standardization in the Semantic Web, Common Logic and MultiAgent Systems
Given the ubiquity of the Web, the Semantic Web (SW) offers MultiAgent Systems (MAS) a most wide-ranging platform by which they could intercommunicate. It can be argued however that MAS require levels of logic that the current Semantic Web has yet to provide. As ISO Common Logic (CL) ISO/IEC IS 24707:2007 provides a firstorder logic capability for MAS in an interoperable way, it seems natural to investigate how CL may itself integrate with the SW thus providing a more expressive means by which MAS can interoperate effectively across the SW. A commentary is accordingly presented on how this may be achieved. Whilst it notes that certain limitations remain to be addressed, the commentary proposes that standardising the SW with CL provides the vehicle by which MAS can achieve their potential.</p
A framework for deriving semantic web services
Web service-based development represents an emerging approach for the development of distributed information systems. Web services have been mainly applied by software practitioners as a means to modularize system functionality that can be offered across a network (e.g., intranet and/or the Internet). Although web services have been
predominantly developed as a technical solution for integrating software systems, there is a more business-oriented aspect that developers and enterprises need to deal with in order to benefit from the full potential of web services in an electronic market. This ‘ignored’ aspect is the representation of the semantics underlying the services themselves as well as the ‘things’ that the services manage. Currently languages like the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) provide the syntactic means to describe web services, but
lack in providing a semantic underpinning. In order to harvest all the benefits of web services technology, a framework has been developed for deriving business semantics from syntactic descriptions of web services. The benefits of such a framework are two-fold. Firstly, the framework provides a way to gradually construct domain ontologies from previously defined technical services. Secondly, the framework enables the
migration of syntactically defined web services toward semantic web services. The study follows a design research approach which (1) identifies the problem area and its relevance from an industrial case study and previous research, (2) develops the
framework as a design artifact and (3) evaluates the application of the framework through a relevant scenario
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