Dimensions of Consistency in GSD: Social Factors, Structures and Interactions

Peer reviewe

A Vision on a New Generation of Software Design Environments (Empirical Theory)

Abstract-In this paper we explain our vision for a new generation of software design environments. We aim to generalize existing software development tools in several key ways -which include: integration of rigorous and informal notations, and support for multiple modes of interaction. We describe how we can consolidate the environment by integrating it with other software engineering tools. Furthermore, we describe some methods which could permit the environment to provide a flexible collaborative medium and have a practical and inspiring user experience. Index Terms-software engineering, modeling tools, collaborative design, IDE

Model-based software engineering: a multiple-case study on challenges and development efforts

A recurring theme in discussions about the adoption of Model-Based Engineering (MBE) is its effectiveness. This is because there is a lack of empirical assessment of the processes and (tool-)use of MBE in practice. We conducted a multiple-case study by observing 2 two-month MBE projects from which software for a Mars rover were developed. We focused on assessing the distribution of the total software development effort over different development activities. Moreover, we observed and collected challenges reported by the developers during the execution of projects. We found that the majority of the effort is spent on the collaboration and communication activities. Furthermore, our inquiry into challenges showed that tool-related challenges are the most encountered

Web-based educational ecosystem for automatization of teaching process and assessment of students

The complexity of the teaching process at universities creates many challenges. It becomes much harder for teachers to observe, control and adjust the learning process. Teaching process can be enhanced with use of different educational systems that not only help students construct their knowledge, but also make this process the most effective and efficient. One of the processes that could be automated and supported is the assessment of students’ assignments. Three e-learning systems are currently used at different universities for teaching software design basics. The goal of this paper is to propose new integrated tool that can be used in university courses to support different stages of learning and evaluation of students’ assignments. Such integrated system will be used to simplify the correction process of software design assignments

Dissecting design effort and drawing effort in UML modeling

One argument in the discussion about the adoption of UML in industry is the supposedly large effort it takes to do modeling. Our study explores how the creation of UML models can be understood to consist of different cognitive activities: (i) designing: thinking about the design (ideation, key-design decision making), (ii) notation expression: expressing a design in a modeling notation and (iii) layouting: the spatial organization of model elements in a diagram. We explain that these different subactivities relate to different short-term and long-term benefits of modeling. In this study we present two controlled experiments with a total of 100 subjects creating models for a small system. In these experiments we focus on software models as represented through UML class diagram. Our results show that at least 56% of the effort spent on creating a class model is actually due to designing. Notation expression is around 41% of the model creation effort and layouting is in the order of 3%. This finding suggests that a significant part of creating models is devoted to design thinking about the problem

UML class diagrams for layout quality checking

We offer a dataset of labelled UML class diagrams. In this dataset, we supply for every diagrams the following information: 1) a manually established ground truth of the quality of the layout, 2) a value for the layout-quality of the diagram as predicted by our classifier, and 3) the values of key features of the layout of the diagram. These features are extracted automatically via image processing. This dataset can be used for replication of our study and for others to build on and improve on our work

Software engineering whispers : The effect of textual vs. graphical software design descriptions on software design communication

Context:\ua0Software\ua0engineering\ua0is a social and collaborative activity. Communicating and sharing knowledge between\ua0software\ua0developers requires much effort. Hence, the quality of\ua0communication\ua0plays an important role in influencing project success. To better understand the\ua0effect\ua0of\ua0communication\ua0on project success, more in-depth empirical studies investigating this phenomenon are needed. Objective: We investigate the\ua0effect\ua0of using a\ua0graphical\ua0versus\ua0textual\ua0design\ua0description\ua0on co-located\ua0software\ua0design\ua0communication. Method: Therefore, we conducted a family of experiments involving a mix of 240\ua0software\ua0engineering\ua0students from four universities. We examined how different\ua0design\ua0representations (i.e.,\ua0graphical\ua0vs.\ua0textual) affect the ability to Explain, Understand, Recall, and Actively Communicate knowledge. Results: We found that the\ua0graphical\ua0design\ua0description\ua0is better than the\ua0textual\ua0in promoting Active Discussion between developers and improving the Recall of\ua0design\ua0details. Furthermore, compared to its unaltered version, a well-organized and motivated\ua0textual\ua0design\ua0description–that is used for the same amount of time–enhances the recall of\ua0design\ua0details and increases the amount of active discussions at the cost of reducing the perceived quality of explaining

Fifth International Workshop on Human Factors in Modeling / Modeling of Human Factors (HuFaMo'21)

Studying human factors and experiences in modeling helps to gain knowledge on the process and use of modeling in practice to optimize system outcomes and user well-being. Moreover, to better support the human aspects of stakeholders and end-users of the software, incorporating the human aspects into software engineering processes from the early modeling and design stages is essential. Considering human factors in software design involves not only 1) studying in detail the interactions between users (humans), but also 2) studying the human factors of the end-users of the system. The HuFaMo workshop was established in 2015 to promote this form of research by creating a venue to discuss and disseminate these topics. The HuFaMo Workshop originally aimed at studying human factors for software systems (implemented or not) allowing humans to model. Hosted within the MODELS conference, the first four editions of the workshop benefited from a high-quality audience, allowing significant progress on this issue. For this fifth edition, we have widened the scope of the workshop to consider the modeling of human factors during the design of the software as well. This helps to study all types of relationships that modeling and human factors can have and their impact on processes, products, and end-users as well as others that might be affected by the system