Khodabandeh, A

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SOFTWARE EVOLUTION - TRACK INTRODUCTIONArash KhodabandehInformation, Process and Technology GroupCERN, Geneva, SwitzerlandThe production of software is a labor intensive activity, especially in the field of High Energy Physics,where the complexity of current and future experiments require large software projects.For most of the scientists and engineers involved in software production, the business is scienceor engineering, not computing. As software scope continues to grow so does the feeling that itsdevelopment and maintenance are out of control. The situation is made even worse by a lack ofsoftware engineers and from an uneven software culture. Better organization and control of softwareproduction are clearly needed in order to face the challenge of developing new software for the LHCand of maintaining software for previous experiments.To be able to control the production of software it is essential to improve (a) the knowledge of thePEOPLE involved, (b) the organization and improvement of the software development PROCESS and(c) the TECHNOLOGY used in the various aspects of this activity. The goals are better systems atlower cost, and of better quality.The process is the set of orderly actions to be performed to produce the software throughout thelife cycle. The quality of a process can be measured in terms of maturity against a recognizedframework. A reference framework is the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) proposed by the SoftwareEngineering Institute (SEI). This model consists of five levels and the most difficult step is to movefrom level 1 to level 2 because of all the management procedures and activities that have to be put inplace. As an organization moves up the maturity levels, management visibility on the software processimproves, estimates become more accurate, schedules are met more precisely and the time required toproduce a software system shortens. This progression in maturity levels is also called Software ProcessImprovement (SPI).People Process TechnologyDocumentation and Team CommunicationConfiguration ManagementQuality AssuranceProject Management and TrackingImplementationDetailed DesignIntegrationDeliveryOperationArchitecturalDesignSoftwareRequirementsUserRequirementsExcept for level 1 (where all organizations start), each maturity level is decomposed into severalKey Process Areas (KPA) that indicate the actions an organization should focus on to improve itssoftware process and reach the corresponding level. The Software Evolution track uses the level 2 as afile rouge. Every lecture teaches one level 2 KPAs:• User Requirements by G.Kellner (CERN IPT Group)• Project Management and Tracking by A.Aimar (CERN IPT Group)• Configuration Management by B.Jacobsen (UC Berkeley) and D.Johnson (Univ. Colorado)• Quality through Software Metrics by A.Khodabandeh (CERN IPT Group)The track also contains one lecture on documentation, an important aspect of softwareengineering too often overlooked:• Software Documentation by A.Aimar (CERN IPT Group)Two case studies illustrate the adequacy of the presented concepts to our environment byshowing how they have been put into practice in HEP experiments:• BaBar Case Study by B.Jacobsen (UC Berkeley)• OPAL Online - A Case Study by K.Ackerstaff (CERN OPAL)The track consists of 8 hours of lectures, 11 hours of exercises and wrap-up, and 4 hours of casestudies.REFERENCES[1] ESA, “Software Engineering Standards”, Prentice-Hall, ISBN: 0-13-106568-8[2] ESA, “Software Engineering Guides”, Prentice-Hall, ISBN: 0-13-449281-1[3] W.S.Humphrey, “Managing the Software Process”, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN: 0-201-18095-2[4] W.S.Humphrey, “A Discipline for Software Engineering”, Addison-Wesley, 1995,ISBN: 0-201-54610-8[5] W.S.Humphrey, “Introduction to the Personal Software Process”, Addison-Wesley, 1997,ISBN: 0-201-54809-7Managed4Optimizing5Defined3Repeatable2Initial1SPI[6] W.S.Humphrey, “CASE planning and Software Process”, CMU-SEI-89-TR-26, May 1989,http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/publications/89.reports/89.tr.026.html[7] V.Stenning, “On the Role of an Environment”, 9th International Conference on SoftwareEngineering, Montery, California, March 30, 1987[8] W.E.Deming, “Quality, productivity and Competitive Position”, MIT 1982[9] SEI, “Capability Maturity Model for Software”, V1.1. CMU/SEI-93-TR-24, 1993[10] SEI, “Key Practices of the Capability Maturity Model”, V1.1. CMU/SEI-93-TR-25, 1993[11] J.Herbsleb, A.Carleton, J.Rozum J.Siegel, D.Zubrow, “Benefits of CMM-Based Software ProcessImprovement: Initial results”, CMU/SEI-94-TR-13, 1994[12] SEI, “Software Quality Assurance”, SW-CMM v2 Draft A, Oct 96,http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/cmm/draft-a/a25qa.html[13] B.J.Brown, “Assurance of Software Quality”, SEI-CM-7-1.1, Jul 87,http://www.sei.cmu.edu/products/publications/cms/cm.007.html

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