An Empirical Study of a Repeatable Method for Reengineering Procedural Software Systems to Object- Oriented Systems

This paper describes a repeatable method for reengineering a procedural system to an object-oriented system. The method uses coupling metrics to assist a domain expert in identifying candidate objects. An application of the method to a simple program is given, and the effectiveness of the various coupling metrics are discussed. We perform a detailed comparison of our repeatable method with an ad hoc, manual reengineering effort based on the same procedural program. The repeatable method was found to be effective for identifying objects. It produced code that was much smaller, more efficient, and passed more regression tests than the ad hoc method. Analysis of object-oriented metrics indicated both simpler code and less variability among classes for the repeatable method

Evaluation Criteria for Object-oriented Metrics

In this paper an evaluation model for object-oriented (OO) metrics is proposed. We have evaluated the existing evaluation criteria for OO metrics, and based on the observations, a model is proposed which tries to cover most of the features for the evaluation of OO metrics. The model is validated by applying it to existing OO metrics. In contrast to the other existing criteria, the proposed model is simple in implementation and includes the practical and important aspects of evaluation; hence it suitable to evaluate and validate any OO complexity metric

The future of technology enhanced active learning – a roadmap

The notion of active learning refers to the active involvement of learner in the learning process, capturing ideas of learning-by-doing and the fact that active participation and knowledge construction leads to deeper and more sustained learning. Interactivity, in particular learnercontent interaction, is a central aspect of technology-enhanced active learning. In this roadmap, the pedagogical background is discussed, the essential dimensions of technology-enhanced active learning systems are outlined and the factors that are expected to influence these systems currently and in the future are identified. A central aim is to address this promising field from a best practices perspective, clarifying central issues and formulating an agenda for future developments in the form of a roadmap

A meta-analysis approach to refactoring and XP

The mechanics of seventy-two different Java refactorings are described fully in Fowler's text. In the same text, Fowler describes seven categories of refactoring, into which each of the seventy-two refactorings can be placed. A current research problem in the refactoring and XP community is assessing the likely time and testing effort for each refactoring, since any single refactoring may use any number of other refactorings as part of its mechanics and, in turn, can be used by many other refactorings. In this paper, we draw on a dependency analysis carried out as part of our research in which we identify the 'Use' and 'Used By' relationships of refactorings in all seven categories. We offer reasons why refactorings in the 'Dealing with Generalisation' category seem to embrace two distinct refactoring sub-categories and how refactorings in the 'Moving Features between Objects' category also exhibit specific characteristics. In a wider sense, our meta-analysis provides a developer with concrete guidelines on which refactorings, due to their explicit dependencies, will prove problematic from an effort and testing perspective

Modelling and simulation framework for reactive transport of organic contaminants in bed-sediments using a pure java object - oriented paradigm

Numerical modelling and simulation of organic contaminant reactive transport in the environment is being increasingly relied upon for a wide range of tasks associated with risk-based decision-making, such as prediction of contaminant profiles, optimisation of remediation methods, and monitoring of changes resulting from an implemented remediation scheme. The lack of integration of multiple mechanistic models to a single modelling framework, however, has prevented the field of reactive transport modelling in bed-sediments from developing a cohesive understanding of contaminant fate and behaviour in the aquatic sediment environment. This paper will investigate the problems involved in the model integration process, discuss modelling and software development approaches, and present preliminary results from use of CORETRANS, a predictive modelling framework that simulates 1-dimensional organic contaminant reaction and transport in bed-sediments

KOMBASE - a knowledge representation system with frames for an object-oriented knowledge base

Knowledge representation is an important area of research which is currently being done in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In order to manipulate the wealth of information available in a typical AI application, mechanisms must be provided to represent and to reason with knowledge at a high level of abstraction. Knowledge representation with frames is a structured and object-oriented approach to this problem. KOMBASE is a prototype to a frame-based system containing organizational information of companies and other corporate bodies. This paper describes the approach adopted in the development of KOMBASE and discusses its implementation, particularly from a knowledge representational perspective