A Configuration Management System for Software Product Lines

Software product line engineering (SPLE) is a methodology for developing a family of software products in a particular domain by systematic reuse of shared code in order to improve product quality and reduce development time and cost. Currently, there are no software configuration management (SCM) tools that support software product line evolution. Conventional SCM tools are designed to support single product development. The use of conventional SCM tools forces developers to treat a software product line as a single software project by introducing new programming language constructs or using conditional compilation. We propose a research conguration management prototype called Molhado SPL that is designed specifically to support the evolution of software product lines. Molhado SPL addresses the evolution problem at the configuration level instead of at the code level. We studied the type of operations needed to support the evolution of software product lines and proposed a versioning model and eight cases of change propagation. Molhado SPL supports independent evolution of core assets and products, the sharing of code and the tracking relationships between products and shared code, and the eight cases of change propagation. The Molhado SPL consists of four layers with each layer providing a different type of service. At the heart of Molhado SPL are the versioning model, component object, shared component object, and project objects that allow for independent evolution of products and shared artifacts, for sharing, and for supporting change propagation. Furthermore,they allow product specific changes to shared code without interfering with the core asset that is shared. Products can also introduce product specific assets that only exist in that product. In order to for Molhado SPL to support product line, we implemented XML merging, feature model editing and debugging, and version-aware XML documents. To support merging of XML documents, we implemented a 3-way XML document merging algorithm that uses versioned data structures, change detection, and node identity. To support software product line derivation or modeling of software product line, we implemented support for feature model including editing and debugging. Finally, we created the version-aware XML document framework to support collaborative editing of XML documents without requiring a version repository. The version history is embedded in the documents using XML namespaces, so that the documents remain valid under the XML specification. The version-aware XML framework can also be used to support the exporting of documents from Molhado SPL repository to be edit outside and import back the change history made to the document. We evaluated Molhado SPL with two product lines: a document product line and a the graph data structures product line. This evaluation showed that Molhado SPL supports independently evolution of products and core assets and the eight change propagation cases. We did not evaluate MolhadoSPL in terms of scalability or usability. The main contributions of this dissertation research are: 1) Molhado SPL that supports the evolution of product lines, 2) a fast 3-way XML merge algorithm, 3) a version-aware XML document framework, and 4) a feature model editor and debugger

Automatisierte Analyse integrierter Software-Produktlinien-Spezifikationen

Der Trend zur Digitalisierung führt zu neuen Anwendungsszenarien (z.B. Industrie 4.0, Internet der Dinge, intelligente Stromnetze), die laufzeitadaptive Software-Systeme erfordern, die sich durch kontinuierliche Rekonfiguration an verändernde Umgebungsbedingungen anpassen. Integrierte Software-Produktlinien-Spezifikationen ermöglichen die präzise Beschreibung von Konsistenzeigenschaften derartiger Systeme in einer einheitlichen Repräsentation. So bietet die Spezifikationssprache Clafer sowohl Sprachmittel zur Charakterisierung der Laufzeitvariabilität eines Systems als auch für die rekonfigurierbaren Bestandteile der Systemarchitektur sowie komplexer Abhängigkeiten. In Clafer-Spezifikationen werden hierzu Sprachkonstrukte aus UML-Klassendiagrammen und Meta-Modellierungssprachen zusammen mit Feature-orientierten Modellierungstechniken und Constraints in Prädikatenlogik erster Stufe kombiniert. Durch die beträchtliche Ausdrucksstärke neigen derartige integrierte Produktlinien-Spezifikationen in der Praxis dazu, sehr komplex zu werden (z.B. aufgrund versteckter Abhängigkeiten zwischen Konfigurationsoptionen und Komponenten). Sie sind daher äußerst anfällig für Spezifikationsfehler in Form von Inkonsistenzen oder Entwurfsschwächen in Form von Anomalien. Inkonsistenzen und Anomalien müssen jedoch möglichst früh im Entwurfsprozess erkannt und behoben werden, um drastische Folgekosten zur Laufzeit eines Systems zu vermeiden. Aus diesem Grund sind statische Analysetechniken zur automatisierten Analyse integrierter Software-Produktlinien-Spezifikationen unabdingbar. Existierende Ansätze zur Konsistenzprüfung erfordern, dass der Suchraum für die Instanzsuche vorab entweder manuell oder durch heuristisch identifizierte Schranken eingeschränkt wird. Da, falls keine Instanz gefunden werden kann, nicht bekannt ist, ob dies durch einen zu klein gewählten Suchraum oder eine tatsächliche Inkonsistenz verursacht wurde, sind existierende Analyseverfahren inhärent unvollständig und praktisch nur eingeschränkt nutzbar. Darüber hinaus wurden bisher noch keine Analysen zur Identifikation von Anomalien vorgeschlagen, wie sie beispielsweise in Variabilitätsmodellen auftreten können. Weiterhin erlauben existierende Verfahren zwar die Handhabung von ganzzahligen Attributen, ermöglichen jedoch keine effiziente Analyse von Spezifikationen die zusätzlich reellwertige Attribute aufweisen. In dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir einen Ansatz zur automatisierten Analyse integrierter Software-Produktlinien-Spezifikationen, die in der Sprache Clafer spezifiziert sind. Hierfür präsentieren wir eine ganzheitliche Spezifikation der strukturellen Konsistenzeigenschaften laufzeitadaptiver Software-Systeme und schlagen neuartige Anomalietypen vor, die in Clafer-Spezifikationen auftreten können. Wir charakterisieren eine Kernsprache, die eine vollständige und korrekte Analyse von Clafer-Spezifikationen ermöglicht. Wir führen zusätzlich eine neuartige semantische Repräsentation als mathematisches Optimierungsproblem ein, die über die Kernsprache hinaus eine effiziente Analyse praxisrelevanter Clafer-Spezifikationen ermöglicht und die Anwendung etablierter Standard-Lösungsverfahren erlaubt. Die Methoden und Techniken dieser Arbeit werden anhand eines durchgängigen Beispiels eines selbst-adaptiven Kommunikationssystems illustriert und prototypisch implementiert. Die experimentelle Evaluation zeigt die Effektivität unseres Analyseverfahrens sowie erhebliche Verbesserungen der Laufzeiteffizienz im Vergleich zu etablierten Verfahren

Building Bridges, Blurring Boundaries: The Milwaukee School in Environment-Behavior Studies

Along with the 40th anniversary of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the 30th anniversary of our Ph.D. Program in Architecture represents another important benchmark in educational excellence. As one of the pioneering PhD programs in architecture dedicated to understanding the relationship between people and place, its influence has been considerable. Its 51 (and counting) graduates teach in architectural design and allied fields at major institutes and practice throughout the world. Their intellectual contributions, and those of the faculty, continue to shape Environment-Behavior Studies and the discipline of architecture as a whole. This book, a tribute to the many excellent students who have shared the Milwaukee experience, is a testament to their collective input for the design of settings for health care, education, the workplace, older people, and communities, and their insights about the role well-designed environments contribute to the quality of people’s lives.https://dc.uwm.edu/sarup_facbooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Command and control agility : a software product line approach

Tese (doutorado) — Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Ciência da Computação, 2022.Comando e Controle (C2), em sua origem histórica, está relacionado à aplicação de estratégias militares clássicas onde havia um único comando centralizado e uma inflexível cadeia de comando entre os elementos que compunham as forças atuantes. C2 não é um fim em si mesmo, mas um processo cujo objetivo é otimizar a aplicação de recursos para cumprir uma missão. Entretanto, em um contexto moderno de C2, o dinamismo da missão, da equipe e do ambiente é um pressuposto necessário e, portanto, a organização da equipe para cumprir uma missão torna-se um desafio que requer constantes adaptações. Esta capacidade de adaptação às novas circunstâncias caracteriza a agilidade C2. Entretanto, o estado da arte não avalia como esta capacidade é afetada pelas escolhas da abordagem de C2, representada pelo nível de disseminação das informações, pela organização da equipe e pela capacidade de tomada de decisões. Além disso, trabalhos recentes não consideram a medição dos Atributos de Qualidade (QA), o que torna os modelos e simulações pouco aderentes à realidade das missões, onde pelo menos o custo pode ser um obstáculo à sua realização. Para abordar estas questões, aplicamos conceitos de Sistemas Auto-Adaptativos (SAS) com uma abordagem que utiliza Linhas de Produtos de Software Dinâmico (DSPL) para representar os elementos que compõem o sistema de C2 e que estão organizados em times. Baseado na configuração e coordenação, propomos dois modelos que buscam garantir a agilidade de C2. Estes modelos proporcionam a escolha da abordagem de C2, combinada com a capacidade de reconfigurar os membros da equipe a fim de garantir agilidade para lidar com as mudanças nas circunstâncias que possam ocorrer. Para avaliar os modelos propostos, realizamos um conjunto de simulações para indicar o nível de agilidade obtido pela abordagem, e aplicamos questionários aos especialistas do domínio de C2 para validar a usabilidade dos modelos e a compatibilidade com cenários realistas enfrentados pelos especialistas do domínioFundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAP/DF) e Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES).Command and Control (C2), in its historical origin, is related to the application of classic military strategies where there was a single centralized command and an inflexible chain of command between the elements that composed the acting forces. C2 is not an end in itself, but a process whose goal is to optimize the application of resources in order to accomplish a mission. However, in a modern C2 context, the dynamism of the mission, the team and the environment is a necessary assumption and, thus, the organization of the team to accomplish a mission becomes a challenge requiring constant adaptations. This ability to adapt to new circumstances characterizes C2 Agility. However, the state-of-theart does not assess how this ability is affected by the choices of C2 approach, represented by the level of information spread, by the organization of the team and by the capacity of decision making. In addition, recent works do not consider the measurement of Quality Attributes (QA), which makes the models and simulations poorly adherent to the reality of missions, where at least the cost can be an obstacle to their achievement. To address these issues, we apply concepts of Self-Adaptive Systems (SAS) with an approach using Dynamic Software Product Lines (DSPL) to represent the elements that make up the C2 System and that are organized into teams. Relying on configuration and coordination, we propose two models that seek to ensure C2 agility. These models provide for the choice of the C2 approach, combined with the ability to reconfigure the team members in order to ensure agility to face the changes in circumstances that may occur. To evaluate the proposed models, we perform a set of simulations to indicate the agility level obtained by the approach and we apply questionnaires to C2 domain experts to validate models’ usability and compatibility with realistic scenarios faced by domain experts

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2020, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2020, and was held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2020. The 23 full papers, 1 tool paper and 6 testing competition papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 81 submissions. The papers cover topics such as requirements engineering, software architectures, specification, software quality, validation, verification of functional and non-functional properties, model-driven development and model transformation, software processes, security and software evolution

Industrialising Software Development in Systems Integration

Compared to other disciplines, software engineering as of today is still dependent on craftsmanship of highly-skilled workers. However, with constantly increasing complexity and efforts, existing software engineering approaches appear more and more inefficient. A paradigm shift towards industrial production methods seems inevitable. Recent advances in academia and practice have lead to the availability of industrial key principles in software development as well. Specialization is represented in software product lines, standardization and systematic reuse are available with component-based development, and automation has become accessible through model-driven engineering. While each of the above is well researched in theory, only few cases of successful implementation in the industry are known. This becomes even more evident in specialized areas of software engineering such as systems integration. Today’s IT systems need to quickly adapt to new business requirements due to mergers and acquisitions and cooperations between enterprises. This certainly leads to integration efforts, i.e. joining different subsystems into a cohesive whole in order to provide new functionality. In such an environment. the application of industrial methods for software development seems even more important. Unfortunately, software development in this field is a highly complex and heterogeneous undertaking, as IT environments differ from customer to customer. In such settings, existing industrialization concepts would never break even due to one-time projects and thus insufficient economies of scale and scope. This present thesis, therefore, describes a novel approach for a more efficient implementation of prior key principles while considering the characteristics of software development for systems integration. After identifying the characteristics of the field and their affects on currently-known industrialization concepts, an organizational model for industrialized systems integration has thus been developed. It takes software product lines and adapts them in a way feasible for a systems integrator active in several business domains. The result is a three-tiered model consolidating recurring activities and reducing the efforts for individual product lines. For the implementation of component-based development, the present thesis assesses current component approaches and applies an integration metamodel to the most suitable one. This ensures a common understanding of systems integration across different product lines and thus alleviates component reuse, even across product line boundaries. The approach is furthermore aligned with the organizational model to depict in which way component-based development may be applied in industrialized systems integration. Automating software development in systems integration with model-driven engineering was found to be insufficient in its current state. The reason herefore lies in insufficient tool chains and a lack of modelling standards. As an alternative, an XML-based configuration of products within a software product line has been developed. It models a product line and its products with the help of a domain-specific language and utilizes stylesheet transformations to generate compliable artefacts. The approach has been tested for its feasibility within an exemplarily implementation following a real-world scenario. As not all aspects of industrialized systems integration could be simulated in a laboratory environment, the concept was furthermore validated during several expert interviews with industry representatives. Here, it was also possible to assess cultural and economic aspects. The thesis concludes with a detailed summary of the contributions to the field and suggests further areas of research in the context of industrialized systems integration

Combining SOA and BPM Technologies for Cross-System Process Automation

This paper summarizes the results of an industry case study that introduced a cross-system business process automation solution based on a combination of SOA and BPM standard technologies (i.e., BPMN, BPEL, WSDL). Besides discussing major weaknesses of the existing, custom-built, solution and comparing them against experiences with the developed prototype, the paper presents a course of action for transforming the current solution into the proposed solution. This includes a general approach, consisting of four distinct steps, as well as specific action items that are to be performed for every step. The discussion also covers language and tool support and challenges arising from the transformation

A Framework for Model-Driven Development of Mobile Applications with Context Support

Model-driven development (MDD) of software systems has been a serious trend in different application domains over the last 15 years. While technologies, platforms, and architectural paradigms have changed several times since model-driven development processes were first introduced, their applicability and usefulness are discussed every time a new technological trend appears. Looking at the rapid market penetration of smartphones, software engineers are curious about how model-driven development technologies can deal with this novel and emergent domain of software engineering (SE). Indeed, software engineering of mobile applications provides many challenges that model-driven development can address. Model-driven development uses a platform independent model as a crucial artifact. Such a model usually follows a domain-specific modeling language and separates the business concerns from the technical concerns. These platform-independent models can be reused for generating native program code for several mobile software platforms. However, a major drawback of model-driven development is that infrastructure developers must provide a fairly sophisticated model-driven development infrastructure before mobile application developers can create mobile applications in a model-driven way. Hence, the first part of this thesis deals with designing a model-driven development infrastructure for mobile applications. We will follow a rigorous design process comprising a domain analysis, the design of a domain-specific modeling language, and the development of the corresponding model editors. To ensure that the code generators produce high-quality application code and the resulting mobile applications follow a proper architectural design, we will analyze several representative reference applications beforehand. Thus, the reader will get an insight into both the features of mobile applications and the steps that are required to design and implement a model-driven development infrastructure. As a result of the domain analysis and the analysis of the reference applications, we identified context-awareness as a further important feature of mobile applications. Current software engineering tools do not sufficiently support designing and implementing of context-aware mobile applications. Although these tools (e.g., middleware approaches) support the definition and the collection of contextual information, the adaptation of the mobile application must often be implemented by hand at a low abstraction level by the mobile application developers. Thus, the second part of this thesis demonstrates how context-aware mobile applications can be designed more easily by using a model-driven development approach. Techniques such as model transformation and model interpretation are used to adapt mobile applications to different contexts at design time or runtime. Moreover, model analysis and model-based simulation help mobile application developers to evaluate a designed mobile application (i.e., app model) prior to its generation and deployment with respected to certain contexts. We demonstrate the usefulness and applicability of the model-driven development infrastructure we developed by seven case examples. These showcases demonstrate the designing of mobile applications in different domains. We demonstrate the scalability of our model-driven development infrastructure with several performance tests, focusing on the generation time of mobile applications, as well as their runtime performance. Moreover, the usability was successfully evaluated during several hands-on training sessions by real mobile application developers with different skill levels