A Scala Embedded DSL for Combinatorial Optimization in Software Requirements Engineering

The goal of the presented work is to provide support for software requirements engineering domain experts in modeling combinatorial optimization problems that arise in requirements prioritization and release planning. A Domain-Specific Language (DSL), called reqT/CSP, is presented that integrates constraints modeling with requirements modeling. The DSL is embedded in the object-functional Scala programming language. The DSL is demonstrated using principal examples of priority ranking and release planning. Benefits, limitations and future work are discussed

Eighth International Workshop on Requirements Engineering—Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ’02)

International audienc

Teaching programming to young learners using Scala and Kojo

This paper presents an approach to teaching programming and abstract thinking to young learners using Scala and Kojo. Kojo is an open source IDE for the Scala programming language. The approach is based on Scala APIs for turtle graphics and functional pictures, a process of interactive exploration and discovery, and structured learning material that guides learners. The approach encourages playful self-learning of basic programming principles such as sequential execution, repetition, primitives, composition, abstraction, parametrized abstraction, and nested abstractions. It also includes tools to help children read and understand programs. Results from the use of Kojo and Scala in the teaching of young learners in Sweden and India are presented, along with a discussion of experiences and future development

Nature, culture and time: contested landscapes among environmental managers in Skane, southern Sweden

Our increased understanding of \u27Man\u27s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth\u27 (Thomas 1956) is one of the key scientific achievements of the second half of the 20th century. Human activities now appropriate more than one third of the Earth\u27s terrestrial ecosystem production, and between a third and a half of the land surface of the planet has been transformed by human development (Vitousek et al. 1997). Humans are inextricably embedded in all earth surface processes, and often dominate them. These findings are increasingly being recognised in political and policy spheres, most notably in contemporary debates about climate change (IPCC 2007). Peter Kershaw\u27s work has been an influential component of this achievement, particularly in alerting us to a much longer potential timeframe of human entanglement through huntergatherer use of fire. He has forced us to think differently about cultural landscapes, and his research findings have persistently challenged the ideal of pristine wilderness

Are the perspectives really different? Further experimentation on scenario-based reading of requirements

Perspective-Based Reading (PBR) is a scenario based inspection technique where several reviewers read a document from different perspectives (e.g. user, designer, tester). The reading is made according to a special scenario, specific for each perspective. The basic assumption behind PBR is that the perspectives find different defects and a combination of several perspectives detects more defects compared to the same amount of reading with a single perspective. The paper presents a study which analyses the differences in perspectives. The study is a partial replication of previous studies. It is conducted in an academic environment using graduate students as subjects. Each perspective applies a specific modelling technique: use case modelling for the user perspective, equivalence partitioning for the tester perspective and structured analysis for the design perspective. A total of 30 subjects were divided into 3 groups, giving 10 subjects per perspective. The analysis results show that: (1) there is no significant difference among the three perspectives in terms of defect detection rate and number of defects found per hour, (2) there is no significant difference in the defect coverage of the three perspectives, and (3) a simulation study shows that 30 subjects is enough to detect relatively small perspective differences with the chosen statistical test. The results suggest that a combination of multiple perspectives may not give higher coverage of the defects compared to single-perspective reading, but further studies are needed to increase the understanding of perspective differenc

A Market-driven Requirements Engineering Process - Results from an Industrial Improvement Programme

In market-driven software evolution, the objectives of a requirements engineering process include the envisioning and fostering of new requirements on existing packaged software products in a way that ensures competitiveness in the market place. This paper describes an industrial, market-driven requirements engineering process which incorporates continuous requirements elicitation and prioritisation together with expert cost estimation as a basis for release planning. The company has gained a measurable improvement in delivery precision and product quality of their packaged software. The described process will act as a baseline against which new promising techniques can be evaluated in the continuation of the improvement programme

A Case Study Evaluation of the Guideline-Supported QUPER Model for Elicitation of Quality Requirements

[Context & motivation] For market-driven software product developing organizations operating on a competitive open market, it is important to plan the product’s releases so that they can reach the market as early as possible with a competitive level of quality compared to its competitors' products. Hence, quality requirements can be seen as a key competitive advantage. The QUPER model was developed with the aim to support high-level decision-making in release planning of quality requirements. [Question/problem] As a follow up on previous studies on QUPER, this study investigates: What are practitioner's views on the utilities of QUPER extended with guidelines including domain-specific examples? [Principal ideas/results] In the presented case study, a set of detailed guidelines of how to apply QUPER in practice, including how to handle cost dependencies between quality requirements, was evaluated at a case company in the mobile handset domain with 24 professionals using real quality requirements. [Contribution] The results point to the importance of having concrete guidelines combined with instructive examples from real practice, while it is not always obvious for a practitioner to transfer cost-dependency examples into the domains that are different from the example domain. The transferability of guidelines and examples to support methodology adoption is an interesting issue for further research

Requirements engineering in open innovation: a research agenda

In recent years Open Innovation (OI) has gained much attention and made firms aware that they need to consider the open environment surrounding them. To facilitate this shift Requirements Engineering (RE) needs to be adapted in order to manage the increase and complexity of new requirements sources as well as networks of stakeholders. In response we build on and advance an earlier proposed software engineering framework for fostering OI, focusing on stakeholder management, when to open up, and prioritization and release planning. Literature in open source RE is contrasted against recent findings of OI in software engineering to establish a current view of the area. Based on the synthesized findings we propose a research agenda within the areas under focus, along with a framing-model to help researchers frame and break down their research questions to consider the different angles implied by the OI model