1,295 research outputs found
Software systems through complex networks science: Review, analysis and applications
Complex software systems are among most sophisticated human-made systems, yet
only little is known about the actual structure of 'good' software. We here
study different software systems developed in Java from the perspective of
network science. The study reveals that network theory can provide a prominent
set of techniques for the exploratory analysis of large complex software
system. We further identify several applications in software engineering, and
propose different network-based quality indicators that address software
design, efficiency, reusability, vulnerability, controllability and other. We
also highlight various interesting findings, e.g., software systems are highly
vulnerable to processes like bug propagation, however, they are not easily
controllable
Scale-free Networks from Optimal Design
A large number of complex networks, both natural and artificial, share the
presence of highly heterogeneous, scale-free degree distributions. A few
mechanisms for the emergence of such patterns have been suggested, optimization
not being one of them. In this letter we present the first evidence for the
emergence of scaling (and smallworldness) in software architecture graphs from
a well-defined local optimization process. Although the rules that define the
strategies involved in software engineering should lead to a tree-like
structure, the final net is scale-free, perhaps reflecting the presence of
conflicting constraints unavoidable in a multidimensional optimization process.
The consequences for other complex networks are outlined.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to Europhysics Letters. Additional
material is available at http://complex.upc.es/~sergi/software.ht
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