Bridging test and model-driven approaches in web engineering

In the last years there has been a growing interest in agile methods and their integration into the so called "unified" approaches. In the field of Web Engineering, agile approaches such as test-driven development are appealing because of the very nature of Web applications, while model-driven approaches provide a less error-prone code derivation; however the integration of both approaches is not easy. In this paper, we present a method-independent approach to combine the agile, iterative and incremental style of test-driven development with the more formal, transformation-based model-driven Web engineering approaches. We focus not only in the development process but also in the evolution of the application, and show how tests can be transformed together with model refactoring. As a proof of concept we show an illustrative example using WebRatio, the WebML design tool.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, vol. 5648).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Agile managing of web requirements with WebSpec

Web application development is a complex and time consuming process that involves di erent stakeholders (ranging from customers to developers); these applications have some unique characteristics like navigational access to information, sophisticated interaction features, etc. However, there have been few proposals to represent those requirements that are speci c to Web applications. Consequently, validation of requirements (e.g. in acceptance tests) is usually informal, and as a result troublesome. To overcome these problems, this PhD Thesis proposes WebSpec, a domain speci c language for specifying the most relevant and characteristic requirements of Web applications: those involving interaction and navigation. We describe WebSpec diagrams, discussing their abstraction and expressive power. As part of this work, we have created a test driven model based approach called WebTDD that gives a good framework for the language. Using the language with this approach we have test several of its features such as automatic test generation, management of changes in requirements, and improving the understanding of the diagrams through application simulation. This PhD Thesis is composed of a set of published and submitted papers. In order to write this PhD Thesis as a collection of papers, several requirements must be taken into account as stated by the University of Alicante. With regard to the content of the PhD Thesis, it must speci cally include a summary which is devoted to the description of initial hypotheses, research objectives, and the collection of publications itself, thus justifying its coherence. It should be underlined that this summary of the PhD Thesis must also include research results and nal conclusions. This summary corresponds to part I of this PhD Thesis (chapter 1 has been written in Spanish while chapter 2 is in English). This work has been partially supported by the following projects: MANTRA (GV/2011/035) from Valencia Ministry, MANTRA (GRE09-17) from the University of Alicante and by the MESOLAP (TIN2010-14860) project from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por los siguientes proyectos: Mantra (GV/2011/035), Ministerio de Valencia, MANTRA (GRE09-17) de la Universidad de Alicante y por el MESOLAP (TIN2010-14860) proyecto del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España.Facultad de Informátic

Bridging test and model-driven approaches in web engineering

In the last years there has been a growing interest in agile methods and their integration into the so called "unified" approaches. In the field of Web Engineering, agile approaches such as test-driven development are appealing because of the very nature of Web applications, while model-driven approaches provide a less error-prone code derivation; however the integration of both approaches is not easy. In this paper, we present a method-independent approach to combine the agile, iterative and incremental style of test-driven development with the more formal, transformation-based model-driven Web engineering approaches. We focus not only in the development process but also in the evolution of the application, and show how tests can be transformed together with model refactoring. As a proof of concept we show an illustrative example using WebRatio, the WebML design tool.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, vol. 5648).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

General Aviation Aircraft: A Comparative Analysis of Analog Instrument Display and Conceptual Primary Flight Display

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects that analog instrument display versus primary flight display (PFD) had on pilot performance. Pilot performance was evaluated by: (a) time, and (b) number of errors. There were twenty subjects with a minimum of a private pilot license selected from the Aeronautical Science department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Three flight conditions (spoiler problem, engine problem, and flap failure) acting as a control group was given to the flight students while flying a traffic pattern. A Silicon Graphics® flight simulation software program and a video camera were used as the data gathering instruments. The results indicated that no significant difference existed between time under the primary flight display and under the analog instrument display (p = 0.872); however, the number of errors under the primary flight display was significantly less than the analog instrument display (p = 0.008)

Agile, Web Engineering and Capability Maturity ModelI ntegration : A systematic literature review

Context Agile approaches are an alternative for organizations developing software, particularly for those who develop Web applications. Besides, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) models are well-established approaches focused on assessing the maturity of an organization that develops software. Web Engineering is the field of Software Engineering responsible for analyzing and studying the specific characteristics of the Web. The suitability of an Agile approach to help organizations reach a certain CMMI maturity level in Web environments will be very interesting, as they will be able to keep the ability to quickly react and adapt to changes as long as their development processes get mature. Objective This paper responds to whether it is feasible or not, for an organization developing Web systems, to achieve a certain maturity level of the CMMI-DEV model using Agile methods. Method The proposal is analyzed by means of a systematic literature review of the relevant approaches in the field, defining a characterization schema in order to compare them to introduce the current state-of-the-art. Results The results achieved after the systematic literature review are presented, analyzed and compared against the defined schema, extracting relevant conclusions for the different dimensions of the problem: compatibility, compliance, experience, maturity and Web. Conclusion It is concluded that although the definition of an Agile approach to meet the different CMMI maturity levels goals could be possible for an organization developing Web systems, there is still a lack of detailed studies and analysis on the field

Computer Science's Digest Volume 2

This series of textbooks was created for the students of the Systems Engineering Program at the University of Nariño. They have been intentionally written in English to promote reading in a foreign language. The textbooks are a collection of reflections and workshops on specific situations in the field of computer science, based on the authors’ experiences. The main purpose of these textbooks is essentially academic. The way in which the reflections and workshops were constructed follows a didactic structure, to facilitate teaching and learning, making use of English as a second language. This book covers Internet and Multimedia Technology, System Analysis and Design, and Software Engineerin

Survey of Inter-satellite Communication for Small Satellite Systems: Physical Layer to Network Layer View

Small satellite systems enable whole new class of missions for navigation, communications, remote sensing and scientific research for both civilian and military purposes. As individual spacecraft are limited by the size, mass and power constraints, mass-produced small satellites in large constellations or clusters could be useful in many science missions such as gravity mapping, tracking of forest fires, finding water resources, etc. Constellation of satellites provide improved spatial and temporal resolution of the target. Small satellite constellations contribute innovative applications by replacing a single asset with several very capable spacecraft which opens the door to new applications. With increasing levels of autonomy, there will be a need for remote communication networks to enable communication between spacecraft. These space based networks will need to configure and maintain dynamic routes, manage intermediate nodes, and reconfigure themselves to achieve mission objectives. Hence, inter-satellite communication is a key aspect when satellites fly in formation. In this paper, we present the various researches being conducted in the small satellite community for implementing inter-satellite communications based on the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. This paper also reviews the various design parameters applicable to the first three layers of the OSI model, i.e., physical, data link and network layer. Based on the survey, we also present a comprehensive list of design parameters useful for achieving inter-satellite communications for multiple small satellite missions. Specific topics include proposed solutions for some of the challenges faced by small satellite systems, enabling operations using a network of small satellites, and some examples of small satellite missions involving formation flying aspects.Comment: 51 pages, 21 Figures, 11 Tables, accepted in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial

Contribution to Software Development Method based on Generalized Requirement Approach

Requirements’ gathering is one of the first steps in the software development process. Gathering business requirements, when the final product requirements are dictated by a known client, can be a difficult process. Even if the client knows their own business best, often their idea about a new business product is obscure, and described by general terms that contribute very much to common misunderstandings among the participants. Business requirement verification when the requirements are gathered using text and graphics can be a slow, error-prone, and expensive process. Misunderstandings and omitted requirements cause the need for revisions and increase project costs and delays. This research work proposes a new approach to the business software development process and is focused on the client’s understanding of how the business software development process works as well as a demonstration of the business requirement practices during requirement negotiation process. While the current software development process validates the business requirement at the end of the development process, this method implementation enables business requirement validation during the requirement negotiation phase. The process of the business requirement negotiation is guided by a set of predefined questions. These questions are guidelines for specifying a sufficient level of requirement details for generating executable code that is able to demonstrate each requirement. Effective implementation of the proposed method requires employment of the GRA Framework. Besides providing guidelines for requirement specification, the Framework shall create executable and provide the test environment for a requirement demonstration. This dissertation implements an example framework that is built around a central repository. Stored within the repository is the data collected during the requirement negotiations process. Access to the repository is managed by a Web interface that enables a collaborative and paperless environment. The result is that the data is stored in one place and updates are reflected to the stakeholders immediately. The executable code is generated by the Generator, a module that provides general programming units that are able to create source code files, databases, SQL statements, classes and methods, navigation menus, and demo applications, all from the data stored in the data repository. The generated software can then be used for the business requirement demonstration. This method assumes that any further development process is built around the requirements repository, which can provide continuous tracking of implementation changes. Besides readily documenting, tracking, and validating the requirements, this method addresses multiple requirement management syndromes such as the insufficient requirements description details provision, the IKIWISI (“I’ll know it when I see it”) Syndrome, the Yes, But Syndrome (“That is not exactly what I mean”), and the Undiscovered Ruins Syndrome (“Now that I see it, I have another requirement to add”).

Bottom-up meta-modelling: An interactive approach

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33666-9_2Proceedings of 15th International Conference, MODELS 2012, Innsbruck, Austria, September 30–October 5, 2012The intensive use of models in Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) raises the need to develop meta-models with different aims, like the construction of textual and visual modelling languages and the specification of source and target ends of model-to-model transformations. While domain experts have the knowledge about the concepts of the domain, they usually lack the skills to build meta-models. These should be tailored according to their future usage and specific implementation platform, which demands knowledge available only to engineers with great expertise in MDE platforms. These issues hinder a wider adoption of MDE both by domain experts and software engineers. In order to alleviate this situation we propose an interactive, iterative approach to meta-model construction enabling the specification of model fragments by domain experts, with the possibility of using informal drawing tools like Dia. These fragments can be annotated with hints about the intention or needs for certain elements. A meta-model is automatically induced, which can be refactored in an interactive way, and then compiled into an implementation meta-model using profiles and patterns for different platforms and purposes.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (project “Go Lite” TIN2011-24139) and the R&D programme of the Madrid Region (project “e-Madrid” S2009/TIC-1650

Monitoring oriented agile based web applications development methodology for small software firms in Jordan

Small software firms (SSF) is vital to the software industry in many countries as they provide substantial growth to their economy. In Jordan, most software companies that are involved with developing Web applications are small firms. However, the extent of applying best Web applications development and management practices in these firms is limited. Besides, the existing software development methods are still lack of monitoring the quality of process and product. As a result, the Web application being developed exceeds deadlines and budget, and not meeting user requirements. Therefore, this research aims to construct a new methodology referred as Monitoring Oriented Agile Based Web Applications Development (MOGWD) Methodology for SSF. This study introduced an Extended Agile Method by extending the Scrum method with Extreme Programming (XP) elements. The Extended Agile Method was improved by combining common steps of Web design method and incorporating the Goal Oriented Monitoring Method (GOMM). The GOMM has defined twenty goals. Each goal has one or more questions. The questions are answered through the defined metrics. There are 101 qualitative metrics for monitoring the process quality, and 37 quantitative metrics for monitoring the process and product quality. Moreover, the proposed MOGWD methodology defines four phases: Plan, Do, Check and Act. The MOGWD methodology was evaluated using expert review and case study. The evaluation results show that the MOGWD methodology has gained SSF practitioners’ satisfaction and found to be practical for the real environment. This study contributes to the field of Agile based development and Web applications measurement. It also provides SSF practitioners a development methodology that monitors the quality of the process and product for Web development