Exploring the Synergies between Join Point Interfaces and Feature-Oriented Programming

Feature-oriented programming FOP, and aspect-oriented programming AOP have been used to develop modular software product lines SPL. Both approaches focus on modularizing classes behavior and crosscutting concerns CC. Therefore, the symbiosis of FOP and AOP would permit reaching pros and cons of both software development approaches. Concretely, FOP permits a modular refinement of classes collaboration for software product lines SPL -an adequate structural representation of heterogeneous CC, but FOP does not well represent homogeneous CC. On the other hand, traditional AOP structurally well modularizes homogeneous CC, but aspects are not adequate to represent collaboration of classes for software evolution. In addition, AOP solutions present implicit dependencies and strong coupling between classes and aspects. Since Join Point Interface JPI solves mentioned AOP issues, this paper present JPI Feature Modules to represent and modularize the structure of FOP and JPI SPL instances, i.e., classes and join point interfaces for a transparent implementation in a FOP and JPI context. This paper, highlights benefits of a FOP and JPI symbiosis for the modular software conception using a case study to exemplify its use

Об одном подходе к оценке эффективности применения пост объектно-ориентированных технологий при сопровождении программных систем

Рассмотрена проблема реализации сквозной функциональности (СФ) при сопровождении объектно-ориентированных программных систем (ПС). Приведен сравнительный анализ некоторых особенностей пост объектно-ориентированных технологий (ПООТ) разработки ПС и предложен подход, позволяющий получить комплексную оценку эффективности применения ПООТ для решения проблемы реализации СФ.The problem of crosscutting functionality (CF) implementation by object-oriented software systems (SWS) development is considered, the comparative analysis of some post object-oriented technologies (POOT) are preformed, and the approach is proposed, which provides a comprehensive assessment of effective POOT usage by CF implementatio

Middleware specialization using aspect oriented programming

Standardized middleware is used to build large distributed real-time and enterprise (DRE) systems. These middleware are highly flexible and support a large number of features since they have to be applicable to a wide range of domains and applications. This generality and flexibility, however, often causes many performance and footprint overheads par-ticularly for product line architectures, which have a well-defined scope smaller than that of the middleware yet must leverage its benefits, such as reusability. To alleviate this tension thus a key objective is to specialize the middleware, which comprises removing the sources of excessive general-ity while simultaneously optimizing the required features of middleware functionality. To meet this objective this paper describes how we have applied Aspect-Oriented Program-ming (AOP) in a novel manner to address these challenges. Although AOP is primarily used for separation of concerns, we use it to specialize middleware. Aspects are used to se-lect the specific set of features needed by the product line. Aspect weaving is subsequently used to specialize the mid-dleware. This paper describes the key motivation for our research, identifies the challenges developing middleware-based product lines and shows how to resolve those using aspects. The results applying our AOP-based specialization techniques to event demultiplexing middleware for the case of single threaded implementation showed 3 % decrease in latency and 2 % increase in throughput, while in the thread pool implementation showed 4 % decrease in latency and 3% increase in throughput

Combining Feature-Oriented and Aspect-Oriented Programming to Support Software Evolution

Starting from the advantages of using Feature-Oriented Programming (FOP) and program families to support software evolution, this paper discusses the drawbacks of current FOP techniques. In particular we address the insu#cient crosscutting modularity that complicates software evolution. To overcome this tension we propose the integration of concepts of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) into existing FOP solutions. As study object we utilize FeatureC++, a proprietary extension to C++ that supports FOP. After a short introduction to basic language features of FeatureC++, we summarize the problems regarding the crosscutting modularity. In doing so, we point to the strengths of AOP that can help. Thereupon, we introduce three approaches that combine FOP and AOP concepts: Multi Mixins, Aspectual Mixins, and Aspectual Mixin Layers. Furthermore, we discuss their benefits for software evolution

Modellbasiertes Regressionstesten von Varianten und Variantenversionen

The quality assurance of software product lines (SPL) achieved via testing is a crucial and challenging activity of SPL engineering. In general, the application of single-software testing techniques for SPL testing is not practical as it leads to the individual testing of a potentially vast number of variants. Testing each variant in isolation further results in redundant testing processes by means of redundant test-case executions due to the shared commonality. Existing techniques for SPL testing cope with those challenges, e.g., by identifying samples of variants to be tested. However, each variant is still tested separately without taking the explicit knowledge about the shared commonality and variability into account to reduce the overall testing effort. Furthermore, due to the increasing longevity of software systems, their development has to face software evolution. Hence, quality assurance has also to be ensured after SPL evolution by testing respective versions of variants. In this thesis, we tackle the challenges of testing redundancy as well as evolution by proposing a framework for model-based regression testing of evolving SPLs. The framework facilitates efficient incremental testing of variants and versions of variants by exploiting the commonality and reuse potential of test artifacts and test results. Our contribution is divided into three parts. First, we propose a test-modeling formalism capturing the variability and version information of evolving SPLs in an integrated fashion. The formalism builds the basis for automatic derivation of reusable test cases and for the application of change impact analysis to guide retest test selection. Second, we introduce two techniques for incremental change impact analysis to identify (1) changing execution dependencies to be retested between subsequently tested variants and versions of variants, and (2) the impact of an evolution step to the variant set in terms of modified, new and unchanged versions of variants. Third, we define a coverage-driven retest test selection based on a new retest coverage criterion that incorporates the results of the change impact analysis. The retest test selection facilitates the reduction of redundantly executed test cases during incremental testing of variants and versions of variants. The framework is prototypically implemented and evaluated by means of three evolving SPLs showing that it achieves a reduction of the overall effort for testing evolving SPLs.Testen ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Entwicklung von Softwareproduktlinien (SPL). Aufgrund der potentiell sehr großen Anzahl an Varianten einer SPL ist deren individueller Test im Allgemeinen nicht praktikabel und resultiert zudem in redundanten Testfallausführungen, die durch die Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen Varianten entstehen. Existierende SPL-Testansätze adressieren diese Herausforderungen z.B. durch die Reduktion der Anzahl an zu testenden Varianten. Jedoch wird weiterhin jede Variante unabhängig getestet, ohne dabei das Wissen über Gemeinsamkeiten und Variabilität auszunutzen, um den Testaufwand zu reduzieren. Des Weiteren muss sich die SPL-Entwicklung mit der Evolution von Software auseinandersetzen. Dies birgt weitere Herausforderungen für das SPL-Testen, da nicht nur für Varianten sondern auch für ihre Versionen die Qualität sichergestellt werden muss. In dieser Arbeit stellen wir ein Framework für das modellbasierte Regressionstesten von evolvierenden SPL vor, das die Herausforderungen des redundanten Testens und der Software-Evolution adressiert. Das Framework vereint Testmodellierung, Änderungsauswirkungsanalyse und automatische Testfallselektion, um einen inkrementellen Testprozess zu definieren, der Varianten und Variantenversionen unter Ausnutzung des Wissens über gemeinsame Funktionalität und dem Wiederverwendungspotential von Testartefakten und -resultaten effizient testet. Für die Testmodellierung entwickeln wir einen Ansatz, der Variabilitäts- sowie Versionsinformation von evolvierenden SPL gleichermaßen für die Modellierung einbezieht. Für die Änderungsauswirkungsanalyse definieren wir zwei Techniken, um zum einen Änderungen in Ausführungsabhängigkeiten zwischen zu testenden Varianten und ihren Versionen zu identifizieren und zum anderen die Auswirkungen eines Evolutionsschrittes auf die Variantenmenge zu bestimmen und zu klassifizieren. Für die Testfallselektion schlagen wir ein Abdeckungskriterium vor, das die Resultate der Auswirkungsanalyse einbezieht, um automatisierte Entscheidungen über einen Wiederholungstest von wiederverwendbaren Testfällen durchzuführen. Die abdeckungsgetriebene Testfallselektion ermöglicht somit die Reduktion der redundanten Testfallausführungen während des inkrementellen Testens von Varianten und Variantenversionen. Das Framework ist prototypisch implementiert und anhand von drei evolvierenden SPL evaluiert. Die Resultate zeigen, dass eine Aufwandsreduktion für das Testen evolvierender SPL erreicht wird