Integrating Performance Analysis in Parallel Software Engineering

Modern computational software is increasingly large in terms of lines of code, number of developers, intended longevity, and complexity of intended architectures. While tools exist to mitigate the problems this type of software causes for the development of functional software, no solutions exist to deal with the problems it causes for performance. This thesis introduces a design called the Software Development Performance Analysis System, or SDPAS. SDPAS observes the performance of software tests as software is developed, tracking builds, tests, and developers in order to provide data with which to analyze a software development process. SDPAS integrates with the CMake build and test suite to obtain data about builds and provide consistent tests, with git to obtain data about how software is changing. SDPAS also integrates with TAU to obtain performance data and store it along with the data obtained from other tools. The utility of SDPAS is observed on two pieces of production software

Considerations for implementing electronic laboratory notebooks in an academic research environment

As research becomes predominantly digitalised, scientists have the option of using electronic laboratory notebooks to record and access entries. These systems can more readily meet volume, complexity, accessibility and preservation requirements than paper notebooks. Whilst the technology can yield many benefits these can only be realised by choosing a system that properly fulfils the requirements of a given context. This review explores the factors that should be considered when introducing electronic laboratory notebooks to an academically focused research group. We cite pertinent studies and discuss our own experience implementing a system within a multi-disciplinary research environment. We also consider how the required financial and time investment is shared between individuals and institutions. Finally, we discuss how electronic laboratory notebooks fit into the broader context of research data management. This article is not a product review; it provides a framework for both the initial consideration of an electronic laboratory notebook and the evaluation of specific software packages

Software Product Line Engineering via Software Transplantation

For companies producing related products, a Software Product Line (SPL) is a software reuse method that improves time-to-market and software quality, achieving substantial cost reductions.These benefits do not come for free. It often takes years to re-architect and re-engineer a codebase to support SPL and, once adopted, it must be maintained. Current SPL practice relies on a collection of tools, tailored for different reengineering phases, whose output developers must coordinate and integrate. We present Foundry, a general automated approach for leveraging software transplantation to speed conversion to and maintenance of SPL. Foundry facilitates feature extraction and migration. It can efficiently, repeatedly, transplant a sequence of features, implemented in multiple files. We used Foundry to create two valid product lines that integrate features from three real-world systems in an automated way. Moreover, we conducted an experiment comparing Foundry's feature migration with manual effort. We show that Foundry automatically migrated features across codebases 4.8 times faster, on average, than the average time a group of SPL experts took to accomplish the task

Can We Automatically Generate Class Comments in Pharo?

Code comments support developers in understanding and maintaining codebases. Specifically in the Pharo environment, code comments serve as the main form of code documentation and usually convey information ranging from high-level design descriptions to low-level implementation details. Nevertheless, numerous important classes in Pharo still lack comments as developers find writing comments to be a tedious and effort-intensive task. Previous works in Java have recommended generating comments automatically to reduce commenting effort and save developers time. There exist several approaches to achieve this goal. One such popular approach is based on identifying stereotypes, \ie a generalized set of characteristics supposed to represent an entity (object, class). However, this approach has not been tested for other programming languages. In this paper, we adopt the stereotype-based approach to automatically generate class comments in the Pharo programming environment. Specifically, we generated information about the class type, collaborators and key methods. We surveyed seven developers to evaluate the generated comments for 24 classes. The responses suggest that, although more information could be added to the comments, the generated class comments are readable and understandable, and the majority of comments do not contain unnecessary information

Publication and Evaluation Challenges in Games & Interactive Media

Faculty in the fields of games and interactive media face significant challenges in publishing and documenting their scholarly work for evaluation in the tenure and promotion process. These challenges include selecting appropriate publication venues and assigning authorship for works spanning multiple disciplines; archiving and accurately citing collaborative digital projects; and redefining “peer review,” impact, and dissemination in the context of creative digital works. In this paper I describe many of these challenges, and suggest several potential solutions

Opening the black box of energy modelling: Strategies and lessons learned

The global energy system is undergoing a major transition, and in energy planning and decision-making across governments, industry and academia, models play a crucial role. Because of their policy relevance and contested nature, the transparency and open availability of energy models and data are of particular importance. Here we provide a practical how-to guide based on the collective experience of members of the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (Openmod). We discuss key steps to consider when opening code and data, including determining intellectual property ownership, choosing a licence and appropriate modelling languages, distributing code and data, and providing support and building communities. After illustrating these decisions with examples and lessons learned from the community, we conclude that even though individual researchers' choices are important, institutional changes are still also necessary for more openness and transparency in energy research