Comparison of a Graphical and a Textual Design Language Using Software Quality Metrics

For many years the software engineering community has been attacking the software reliability problem on two fronts. First via design methodologies, languages and tools as a precheck on quality and second by measuring the quality of produced software as a postcheck. This research attempts to unify the approach to creating reliable software by providing the ability to measure the quality of a design prior to its implementation. A comparison of a graphical and a textual design language is presented in an effort to support research findings that the human brain works more effectively in images than in text

From a Domain Analysis to the Specification and Detection of Code and Design Smells

Code and design smells are recurring design problems in software systems that must be identified to avoid their possible negative consequences\ud on development and maintenance. Consequently, several smell detection\ud approaches and tools have been proposed in the literature. However,\ud so far, they allow the detection of predefined smells but the detection\ud of new smells or smells adapted to the context of the analysed systems\ud is possible only by implementing new detection algorithms manually.\ud Moreover, previous approaches do not explain the transition from\ud specifications of smells to their detection. Finally, the validation\ud of the existing approaches and tools has been limited on few proprietary\ud systems and on a reduced number of smells. In this paper, we introduce\ud an approach to automate the generation of detection algorithms from\ud specifications written using a domain-specific language. This language\ud is defined from a thorough domain analysis. It allows the specification\ud of smells using high-level domain-related abstractions. It allows\ud the adaptation of the specifications of smells to the context of\ud the analysed systems.We specify 10 smells, generate automatically\ud their detection algorithms using templates, and validate the algorithms\ud in terms of precision and recall on Xerces v2.7.0 and GanttProject\ud v1.10.2, two open-source object-oriented systems.We also compare\ud the detection results with those of a previous approach, iPlasma

A Domain Analysis to Specify Design Defects and Generate Detection Algorithms

Quality experts often need to identify in software systems design defects, which are recurring design problems, that hinder development\ud and maintenance. Consequently, several defect detection approaches\ud and tools have been proposed in the literature. However, we are not\ud aware of any approach that defines and reifies the process of generating\ud detection algorithms from the existing textual descriptions of defects.\ud In this paper, we introduce an approach to automate the generation\ud of detection algorithms from specifications written using a domain-specific\ud language. The domain-specific is defined from a thorough domain analysis.\ud We specify several design defects, generate automatically detection\ud algorithms using templates, and validate the generated detection\ud algorithms in terms of precision and recall on Xerces v2.7.0, an\ud open-source object-oriented system

A Programming Environment Evaluation Methodology for Object-Oriented Systems

The object-oriented design strategy as both a problem decomposition and system development paradigm has made impressive inroads into the various areas of the computing sciences. Substantial development productivity improvements have been demonstrated in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to user interface design. However, there has been very little progress in the formal characterization of these productivity improvements and in the identification of the underlying cognitive mechanisms. The development and validation of models and metrics of this sort require large amounts of systematically-gathered structural and productivity data. There has, however, been a notable lack of systematically-gathered information on these development environments. A large part of this problem is attributable to the lack of a systematic programming environment evaluation methodology that is appropriate to the evaluation of object-oriented systems

Analysis of source code metrics from ns-2 and ns-3 network simulators

Ns-2 and its successor ns-3 are discrete-event simulators which are closely related to each other as they share common background, concepts and similar aims. Ns-3 is still under development, but it offers some interesting characteristics for developers while ns-2 still has a large user base. While other studies have compared different network simulators, focusing on performance measurements, in this paper we adopted a different approach by focusing on technical characteristics and using software metrics to obtain useful conclusions. We chose ns-2 and ns-3 for our case study because of the popularity of the former in research and the increasing use of the latter. This reflects the current situation where ns-3 has emerged as a viable alternative to ns-2 due to its features and design. The paper assesses the current state of both projects and their respective evolution supported by the measurements obtained from a broad set of software metrics. By considering other qualitative characteristics we obtained a summary of technical features of both simulators including, architectural design, software dependencies or documentation policies.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-0

Modeling the object-oriented software process: OPEN and the unified process

A short introduction to software process modeling is presented, particularly object-oriented modeling. Two major industrial process models are discussed: the OPEN model and the Unified Process model. In more detail, the quality assurance in the Unified Process tool (formally called Objectory) is reviewed

A school text book analysis

This paper reports on a project to digitise and analyse sample reading books recently used within British Primary schools. Through analysis of the textual content of example texts from this corpus, we aimed to illustrate statistical characteristics of these texts and consider implications for the expected rate of progression across texts intended for different school levels. Our project also includes the design and implementation of software tools for assisting with this undertaking. Our approach to textual analysis relies heavily on frequency lists for each of the school text books and their comparison with frequency lists of common usage (words per million) derived from the British National Corpus. Our software toolset eases the task of contrastive analysis as well as providing helpful graphical display of analysis data

Model-Driven Development for Spring Boot Microservices

As microservices become more and more common, there is more interest in optimizing their development, making it faster, reducing the complexity and making it less error and bug prone. This work aims to explore how Model-driven Engineering (MDE) can be used to aid microservices’ development, especially Java microservices using Spring Boot. Firstly, this work starts by presenting its context, with a brief introduction to MDE and microservices, and how MDE can be used to facilitate microservices’ development. Then the State of the Art presents MDE base technologies and MDE-based solutions that can be used to develop microservices. Furthermore, a value analysis was also done, to explore the benefits of using MDE, and to define its value proposition. Lastly, a case study was elaborated following three different approaches, traditional development, DSL-based approach, and MDE-based tool approach, which were then compared by code quality and time required for development of the microservices. This work is especially interesting for someone who wants to develop Java microservices and wants to explore the different approaches and technologies to do so, namely by using MDE.À medida que os microserviços se tornam cada vez mais comuns, há mais interesse em otimizar seu desenvolvimento, otimizando o tempo de desenvolvimento, reduzindo a complexidade e tornando-o menos sujeito a erros e bugs. Este trabalho tem como objetivo explorar como é que Model-driven Engineering (MDE) pode ser usado para auxiliar o desenvolvimento de microserviços, especialmente microserviços Java usando Spring Boot. Em primeiro lugar, este trabalho começa apresentando seu contexto, com uma breve introdução ao MDE e microserviços, e explicando como é que MDE pode ser usado para facilitar o desenvolvimento de microserviços. Em seguida é apresentado o Estado da Arte, que apresenta tecnologias base de MDE e soluções baseadas em MDE (ferramentas), que podem ser utilizadas para desenvolver microserviços. Além disso, também foi feita uma análise de valor para explorar os benefícios do uso de MDE, e para definir sua proposta de valor. Por fim, foi elaborado um caso de estudo através de três abordagens diferentes, desenvolvimento tradicional, abordagem baseada em DSL, e abordagem utilizando uma ferramenta baseada em MDE, que foram então comparadas através da qualidade do código e pelo tempo necessário para o desenvolvimento dos microserviços. Este trabalho é especialmente interessante para quem quer desenvolver microsserviços Java e quer explorar as diferentes abordagens e tecnologias para o fazer, nomeadamente através da utilização de MDE