A framework for understanding the factors influencing pair programming success

Pair programming is one of the more controversial aspects of several Agile system development methods, in particular eXtreme Programming (XP). Various studies have assessed factors that either drive the success or suggest advantages (and disadvantages) of pair programming. In this exploratory study the literature on pair programming is examined and factors distilled. These factors are then compared and contrasted with those discovered in our recent Delphi study of pair programming. Gallis et al. (2003) have proposed an initial framework aimed at providing a comprehensive identification of the major factors impacting team programming situations including pair programming. However, this study demonstrates that the framework should be extended to include an additional category of factors that relate to organizational matters. These factors will be further refined, and used to develop and empirically evaluate a conceptual model of pair programming (success)

Evolving information systems: meeting the ever-changing environment

To meet the demands of organizations and their ever-changing environment, information systems are required which are able to evolve to the same extent as organizations do. Such a system has to support changes in all time-and application-dependent aspects. In this paper, requirements and a conceptual framework for evolving information systems are presented. This framework includes an architecture for such systems and a revision of the traditional notion of update. Based on this evolutionary notion of update (recording, correction and forgetting) a state transition-oriented model on three levels of abstraction (event level, recording level, correction level) is introduced. Examples are provided to illustrate the conceptual framework for evolving information systems

Contextualisation of Data Flow Diagrams for security analysis

Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are popular for sketching systems for subsequent threat modelling. Their limited semantics make reasoning about them difficult, but enriching them endangers their simplicity and subsequent ease of take up. We present an approach for reasoning about tainted data flows in design-level DFDs by putting them in context with other complementary usability and requirements models. We illustrate our approach using a pilot study, where tainted data flows were identified without any augmentations to either the DFD or its complementary models

Applying design patterns in the search-based optimization of software product line architectures

The design of the product line architecture (PLA) is a difficult activity that can benefit from the application of design patterns and from the use of a search-based optimization approach, which is generally guided by different objectives related, for instance, to cohesion, coupling and PLA extensibility. The use of design patterns for PLAs is a recent research field, not completely explored yet. Some works apply the patterns manually and for a specific domain. Approaches to search-based PLA design do not consider the usage of these patterns. To allow such use, this paper introduces a mutation operator named “Pattern-Driven Mutation Operator” that includes methods to automatically identify suitable scopes and apply the patterns Strategy, Bridge and Mediator with the search-based approach multi-objective optimization approach for PLA. A metamodel is proposed to represent and identify suitable scopes to receive each one of the patterns, avoiding the introduction of architectural anomalies. Empirical results are also presented, showing evidences that the use of the proposed operator produces a greater diversity of solutions and improves the quality of the PLAs obtained in the search-based optimization process, regarding the values of software metrics