A Model for Configuration Management of Open Software Systems

The article proposes a model for the configuration management of open systems. The model aims at validation of configurations against given specifications. An extension of decision graphs is proposed to express specifications. The proposed model can be used by software developers to validate their own configurations across different versions of the components, or to validate configurations that include components by third parties. The model can also be used by end-users to validate compatibility among different configurations of the same application. The proposed model is first discussed in some application scenarios and then formally defined. Moreover, a type discipline is given to formally define validation of a configuration against a system specificationComment: 13 page

Riuso vs open source, un confronto necessario

Riuso e open source sono frequentemente protagonisti di iniziative per l’innovazione della pubblica amministrazione, in particolare a livello locale. La presentazione propone una discussione dei due temi, centrata sui problemi della pubblica amministrazione locale e relativa all’opportunità di uno strumento attualmente in via di proposta per promuovere il riuso nella Regione Toscana: una licenza di riuso. Gli autori ritengono che la licenza risponde a concrete esigenze e che il riuso è una strada per introdurre, per gradi e in modo pragmatico, i principî dell’open source nel contesto della pubblica amministrazione locale e delle aziende IT che ad essa forniscono servizi.2008-04-17Sardegna Ricerche, Edificio 2, Località Piscinamanna 09010 Pula (CA) - ItaliaPAAL 2008 - Pubblica Amministrazione Aperta e Libera: dalle tecnologie aperte alla libera circolazione dei contenuti digital

Il monitoraggio del processo software: una soluzione dal punto di vista del committente

According to the Italian law, monitoring is a form of quality control that must be performed in the enactment of all the contracts of great importance related to the information systems of the Italian Public Administration. In this paper, the authors describe and analyse the aspects of monitoring as a tool to guarantee the quality of software production and, as a consequence, to assure the customer satisfaction. The paper presents the administrative context where monitoring is applied, its purpose and the application areas, the relationship with other forms of quality control. In particular, we emphasise the novelty of monitoring and its characteristic of customer initiative

Il monitoraggio dei contratti di grande rilievo

According to Italian law, monitoring is a kind of quality control that must be performed during the carrying out of contracts regarding the information systems of Italian Public Bodies. This technical report describes and analyses monitoring as a tool to guarantee the quality of software production and consequently to assure the customer's satisfaction. It presents the institutional context in which monitoring is used, its activities, its purposes, its areas of application, and its relation to other kinds of quality control

Software reuse in local public bodies: Lessons learned in Tuscany

Abstract. In the last years, in Italy, software reuse has become an e-government hot topic. In this context, reuse is intended as the large scale adoption of software applications developed by local and independent initiatives. Due to the large autonomy of Italian local public administrations, reuse is preferred to centralized development of applications. The paper presents the experience of a three years regional project to manage and enforce reuse in Tuscany. The main result of the project is a model for reuse that emphasizes freedom to develop and freedom to adopt. The implementation of the model is based on a reusable application repository that lists and certifies software products that are available for reuse

Using Old Computers for Teaching Computer Science

Part 5: Integrating History with Computer Science EducationInternational audienceResearch on the history of computing often needs to adopt experimental archaeology methods: the rebuilding of old hardware and software requires us to proceed by hypothesis and experimentation. This is one of the key assets of the HMR project, whose main goal is the study of Italian computers from the Fifties and Sixties. The results obtained by the HMR research are made accessible to the public through exhibitions and workshops held at the Museum of Computing Tools of the University of Pisa. The visitors of the Museum, mainly students from middle and high schools, are introduced to the basic concepts of computer science through fascinating old machines. The paper reviews some of the results of the HMR project and presents how historical computers, either preserved at the Museum or rebuilt by HMR, are shown to the public to teach principles and mechanisms of computer science