A proposal for extending UML-B to support a conceptual model

UML-B is a development process framework for Event-B based on a “UML-like” graphical formal notation that provides support for object-oriented modelling concepts, in particular, for class and state machine diagrams. However, this methodology has a gap for mapping requirements to formal specifications. To overcome this issue, we present a proposal for extending UML-B to support a conceptual model to provide an easier starting point for the actual development process. More precisely, we propose two diagrams to facilitate the passing from requirements to the initial formal model: a first one to represent system behavior based on UML 2 interaction overview diagram (IOD) and a second one for system structure based on boundary-control-entity stereotyped class diagram (BCE). We show how to translate the former into an Event-B specification and explain how to link the latter to the original UML-B using a simple ATM example as proof of concept.     

A conceptual model of software testing

As code is executed correctly under test, confidence in the correctness of the code increases. In this context, an intuitive conceptual model of the process of software testing which draws upon experience gained with mutation analysis is presented. The model is used to explain how the testing of one path can influence confidence in other (possibly unexecuted) paths. It is also discussed in relation to software reliability and systematic structural testing, and is shown to be consistent with observations made during these forms of testing.     

Task‐based conceptual graphs as a basis for automating software development

It is widely recognized that requirements engineering is a knowledge‐intensive process and cannot be dealt with using only a few general principles. Since knowledge plays a crucial role in software development, software engineers have to describe and organize various aspects of knowledge before the program can be written. A recent work by Robillard reveals that software development can be further improved by recognizing the relevant knowledge structures. In this paper, we propose the use of a task‐based conceptual graphs (TBCB) framework as a basis for automating software development. By structuring and operationalizing conceptual graphs, TBCG specifications can be transformed into executable programs automatically. To construct a conceptual model, task‐based specification methodology is used as the mechanism to structure the knowledge captured in conceptual models, whereas conceptual graphs are adopted as the formalism to express task‐based specifications and to provide a reasoning capability for the purpose of automation. Once task‐based graphs have been constructed and verified, a blackboard system will automatically transform TBCG specifications into a software system composed of database schemas, knowledge base, and user interfaces. A meeting scheduling system is used as an illustrative example to demonstrate our approach. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

MDA Tool Components: a proposal for packaging know-how in model driven development

As the Model Driven Development (MDD) and Product Line Engineering (PLE) appear as major trends for reducing software development complexity and costs, an important missing stone becomes more visible: there is no standard and reusable assets for packaging the know-how and artifacts required when applying these approaches. To overcome this limit, we introduce in this paper the notion of MDA Tool Component, i.e., a packaging unit for encapsulating business know-how and required resources in order to support specific modeling activities on a certain kind of model. The aim of this work is to provide a standard way for representing this know-how packaging unit. This is done by introducing a two-layer MOF-compliant metamodel. Whilst the first layer focuses on the definition of the structure and contents of the MDA Tool Component, the second layer introduces a language independent way for describing its behavior. An OMG RFP (Request For Proposal) has been issued in order to standardize this approach. This work is supported in part by the IST European project “MODELWARE” (contract no 511731) and extends the work presented in the paper entitled “MDA Components: A Flexible Way for Implementing the MDA Approach” edited in proceedings of the ECMDA-FA’05 conference.     

The Globall Hyperatlas: a development proposal

A future hardware system designed to support an interactive geographic database is outlined. The basic system is intended for domestic and educational use and extensions of the system are foreseen as serving a wide variety of professional users. The main physical and functional parameters of the system are presented. Possible problems are indicated and development goals are suggested. The aim of the paper is to initiate a detailed and informed discussion about how such a system may be developed.     

Value creation and capture: a model of the software development process

Landmark Graphics supplies software and services to the upstream oil and gas industry. Our software portfolio, which ranges from exploration and drilling to data management and decision analysis, includes more than 60 products consisting of over 50 million lines of source code. For many years, Landmark has been collecting project metrics we wished to harvest to gain insight into key business questions in three areas: optimal release cycle duration (scope/time trade-off), optimal project staffing levels, effects of uncertainty. We set out to develop a relatively simple project dynamics model to use in conjunction with market sensitivity and economic analysis to help optimize profitability. Some of our ideas and results are similar to those of Preston Smith and Donald Reinertsen, who examined the impact of time-to-market sensitivity. However, our approach is a more detailed model tuned to software development issues.     

Automated conceptual model clustering: a relator-centric approach

Software and Systems Modeling - In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of reference conceptual models to capture information about complex and sensitive business domains...     

教学软件开发过程模型探讨

在深入分析教学软件特点的基础上,探讨了其开发过程中采用的原型模型、螺旋模型、原型与螺旋两者相结合开发模型的特点,并提出教学设计中,应包含探究式教学设计过程将成为未来教学软件的开发趋势。     

A model of the software development process

This paper presents a model of the programming process. The model has four parts. A resources model specifies how many useful man-months of design effort are available from project team members after subtracting the time required for learning and team communications. A system design model specifies how many man-months of effort are required to derive program module specifications, as a function of the number of team members, program size, and number of modules. A coding model specifies how many man-months of effort are required for coding, as a function of team, module, and program size. Finally, a checkout model specifies how many man-months are required for checkout as a function of program size, error detection and correction rates, and a design-complete factor. The model as a whole predicts that programmer productivity will decrease as project team size is increased and that project duration will first decrease and then increase as team size is increased. It also shows that productivity and project duration vary enormously as a function of project management factors, even when project complexity and programming staff competence are held constant.     

用于软件开发工作量估算的IOP模型

软件开发工作量估算可以为多项与组织决策和项目管理相关的任务提供有效的支持.根据工作量估算的不同目标,通过对COCOMO Ⅱ成本驱动因子进行扩充和对国内外最新软件项目数据进行回归分析,建立了一个用于工作量估算的IOP模型.该模型采用统一框架,分别从行业水平、组织水平和项目特征3个层次实现基于规模的软件开发工作量估算,以满足针对软件行业、软件组织和特定软件项目的不同的估算目标,例如项目招标、软件组织不同项目的管理和具体软件项目的管理等.最后,给出了IOP模型应用的若干实例.     

Analysis of object-oriented software reliability model development

Can object-oriented methods be applied to mathematical software? Apparently, according to Beall and Shepard (An object-oriented framework for reliable numerical simulations, object-oriented software. Addison Wesley, Reading, 1994) who say: “It has been recognized in a number of different fields that object-oriented programming, in general, and software frameworks, in particular, provide a means to allow the efficient construction and maintenance of large scale software systems. Since general purpose numerical analysis codes certainly qualify as large-scale software it makes sense for us to see how these methodologies can be applied to this field.”     

Responsive inclusive design (RiD): a new model for inclusive software development

The design and development of technological solutions based on software for all types of people, including people with disabilities, is still a pending issue in most software application development projects today. Situations like the 2020 pandemic drastically reflect how people with disabilities tend to be left outside the application design and construction guidelines. There are multiple initiatives and previous works that advocate user involvement from the beginning of the project; however, in this work, we go a step further by presenting a model for designing and constructing software applications (RiD—Responsive inclusive Design) defined for inclusive software. RiD extends the involvement of the user with disabilities to the entire software life cycle, in different roles, and taking into account the changing nature of the user profile in the evolution of the product. This article also presents the EDICO case study, an accessible and inclusive scientific editor for the Spanish National Organization of the Blind (ONCE), which was successfully implemented applying the RiD principles.

     

Evolution of cognitive trust in distributed software development teams: a punctuated equilibrium model

A significant body of literature has addressed trust in distributed teams. However, several important issues such as 1) trust in distributed software development teams, 2) the evolution of cognitive trust, and 3) the role of communication media in trust development have not been adequately addressed. The objective of this paper is to address the void discussed above by conducting a longitudinal study to examine the evolution of cognitive trust among distributed software development teams from USA and Norway or Switzerland. The results suggest that cognitive trust develops in accordance with the tenets of the Punctuated Equilibrium Model (PEM). Additionally, our study also suggests that different factors are important for trust building during the different stages of a software development project. The findings contribute to the body of trust research and to practice by identifying stages in a software development project during which managerial intervention can help elevate trust levels.     

Industrializing software development: a Japanese approach

An overview is given of Japan's Sigma (Software Industrialized Generator and Maintenance Aids), and of the Sigma system itself. Sigma provides a rich, standardized environment. It consists of the Sigma Center, Sigma network, and Sigma user sites. The Sigma Center will help users who are constructing development environments of programs using those environments. It will provide database services, demonstration services, and part of the network service. The Sigma network is a Unix-based network that connects the Sigma Center to the Sigma user sites, the Sigma Center to external networks. A typical Sigma user site includes Sigma workstations running Sigma OS, a local area network, and the Sigma gateway, which is a communications server and protocol-conversion system. The Sigma development tools are discussed     

A conceptual approach for simulation software

This paper presents concepts and tools for simulation softwares specification. At an abstract level of specification, we define a simulation software as a couple (conceptual structure, abstract machine). The conceptual structure is a structured representation of the simulated system behaviour. The abstract machine is a set of abstract and general mechanisms able to carry out the management of a system defined through its conceptual schema. We focus in the paper on concepts for behaviour structuring and abstract machine tools.     

Collaborative conceptual design: A large software project case study

During software development, the activities of requirements analysis, functional specification, and architectural design all require a team of developers to converge on a common vision of what they are developing. There have been remarkably few studies of conceptual design during real projects. In this paper, we describe a detailed field study of a large industrial software project. We observed the development team's conceptual design activities for three months with follow-up observations and discussions over the following eight months. In this paper, we emphasize the organization of the project and how patterns of collaboration affected the team's convergence on a common vision. Three observations stand out: First, convergence on a common vision was not only painfully slow but was punctuated by several reorientations of direction; second, the design process seemed to be inherently forgetful, involving repeated resurfacing of previously discussed issues; finally, a conflict of values persisted between team members responsible for system development and those responsible for overseeing the development process. These findings have clear implications for collaborative support tools and process interventions.     

LMES: A localized multi-estimator model to estimate software development effort

Accurate estimation of software development effort is strongly associated with the success or failure of software projects. The clear lack of convincing accuracy and flexibility in this area has attracted the attention of researchers over the past few years. Despite improvements achieved in effort estimating, there is no strong agreement as to which individual model is the best. Recent studies have found that an accurate estimation of development effort in software projects is unreachable in global space, meaning that proposing a high performance estimation model for use in different types of software projects is likely impossible. In this paper, a localized multi-estimator model, called LMES, is proposed in which software projects are classified based on underlying attributes. Different clusters of projects are then locally investigated so that the most accurate estimators are selected for each cluster. Unlike prior models, LMES does not rely on only one individual estimator in a cluster of projects. Rather, an exhaustive investigation is conducted to find the best combination of estimators to assign to each cluster. The investigation domain includes 10 estimators combined using four combination methods, which results in 4017 different combinations. ISBSG, Maxwell and COCOMO datasets are utilized for evaluation purposes, which include a total of 573 real software projects. The promising results show that the estimate accuracy is improved through localization of estimation process and allocation of appropriate estimators. Besides increased accuracy, the significant contribution of LMES is its adaptability and flexibility to deal with the complexity and uncertainty that exist in the field of software development effort estimation.     

面向构件与方面的MDA软件开发新模型初探

以面向对象为基础的基于构件(CBSD)的软件开发方法、面向方面(AOSD)方法以及基于模型递进驱动(MDA)的软件设计与开发方法各具优点,分别从不同角度很好地解决了软件开发中遇到的不同问题,却各有不足.在对CBSD、AOSP以及MDA等方法的研究基础上,提出了一种新的面向构件与方面的MDA软件开发模型,该方法通过计算模型、构件与方面模型、系统实现模型这3种逐步递进的模型来进行复杂系统的软件设计与开发.给出的应用实例表明该开发模型能有效降低复杂系统的开发难度,提高开发效率以及系统的复用性.     

A probabilistic model for predicting software development effort

Recently, Bayesian probabilistic models have been used for predicting software development effort. One of the reasons for the interest in the use of Bayesian probabilistic models, when compared to traditional point forecast estimation models, is that Bayesian models provide tools for risk estimation and allow decision-makers to combine historical data with subjective expert estimates. In this paper, we use a Bayesian network model and illustrate how a belief updating procedure can be used to incorporate decision-making risks. We develop a causal model from the literature and, using a data set of 33 real-world software projects, we illustrate how decision-making risks can be incorporated in the Bayesian networks. We compare the predictive performance of the Bayesian model with popular nonparametric neural-network and regression tree forecasting models and show that the Bayesian model is a competitive model for forecasting software development effort.