Online Genetic Improvement on the java virtual machine with ECSELR

Online Genetic Improvement embeds the ability to evolve and adapt inside a target software system enabling it to improve at runtime without any external dependencies or human intervention. We recently developed a general purpose tool enabling Online Genetic Improvement in software systems running on the java virtual machine. This tool, dubbed ECSELR, is embedded inside extant software systems at runtime, enabling such systems to self-improve and adapt autonomously online. We present this tool, describing its architecture and focusing on its design choices and possible uses.     

Making Sense of Software Development and Personality Types

It's common sense to state that the production of any software product involves a human element, at least to some extent. We all have different personality traits, and the way we perceive, plan, and execute any activity is influenced by these characteristics. Typically, software development is a product of teamwork, involving several people performing various tasks. The success and failure of software projects reveal the human factor as one of vital importance. Not everyone can excel at every task, thus better results are achieved if people with particular personality traits are assigned to different aspects of a project, especially the roles best suited to their ability. The authors mapped some opposing psychological traits, such as extroversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving, to the main stages of a software development life cycle. Consequently, they concluded that assigning a person with specific psychological characteristics to the stage of the software life cycle best suited for his or her traits increases the chances of a successful outcome for the project.     

Project visualization for software

A software product "blueprint" let stakeholders view a software project's status at any point in the development. The work on requirements analysis and design when only the designers understand a software project's progress can be frustrating. Although a project leader should give progress presentations to stakeholders before the software is ready for demonstration, a presentation showing fragments of code is hardly useful. The lack of useful information makes it difficult for stakeholders to give constructive criticism on the project's progress or to set priorities. It might also damage their confidence in the project's progress and quality and their faith in the plans.     

跨项目软件缺陷预测方法研究综述

软件缺陷预测是提高软件测试效率、保证软件可靠性的重要途径,已经成为目前实证软件工程领域的研究热点。在软件工程中,软件的开发过程或技术平台可能随时变化,特别是遇到新项目启动或旧项目重新开发时,基于目标项目数据的传统软件缺陷预测方法无法满足实践需求。基于迁移学习技术采用其他项目中已经标注的软件数据实现跨项目的缺陷预测,可以有效解决传统方法的不足,引起了国内外研究者的极大关注,并取得了一系列的研究成果。首先总结了跨项目软件缺陷预测中的关键问题。然后根据迁移学习的技术特点将现有方法分为基于软件属性特征迁移和软件模块实例迁移两大类,并分析比较了常见方法的特点和不足。最后探讨了跨项目软件缺陷预测未来的发展方向。     

Law review: What's new? Tracing the origin of species

One common question asked at the outset of a software-development project is if it is okay to create the new program. The simple and easy legal answer is that the law does not prohibit the development of new software. The reason the law is so crystal clear on the issue of developing new software is that it presumes a theoretical situation called independent development, in which new software is presumed to; be based solely on any new concepts or code; contain no old concepts or code; and contain the thoughts of only the participants of the development team. Independently developed software must be 100 percent original. The paper considers how it does not survive long when applied to situations in the real world. There is no such thing as new software that is truly and entirely original     

Software congestion, mobile servers, and the hyperbolic model

The phenomenon of software congestion is examined. The term refers to situations in which the performance bottleneck of a system is an element of software, rather than a hardware device. Software congestion can occur in any system which contains one or more elements of software whose services may be simultaneously desired by multiple clients, but which can service only one client at a time. It is shown that the use of models which ignore software congestion can produce results that are completely irrelevant to actual system behavior. Furthermore, software congestion is frequently invisible to conventional performance measurement tools. A notational scheme, called mobile servers representation, is introduced for describing those systems in which software congestion may be important. An approximate analytical model, called the hyperbolic model, is developed for analyzing systems with software congestion     

Optimal Release Time of Computer Software

A decision procedure to determine when computer software should be released is described. This procedure is based upon the cost-benefit for the entire company that has developed the software. This differs from the common practice of only minimizing the repair costs for the data processing division. Decision rules are given to determnine at what time the system should be released based upon the results of testing the software. Necessary and sufficient conditions are identified which determine when the system should be released (immediately, before the deadline, at the deadline, or after the deadline). No assumptions are made about the relationship between any of the model's parameters. The model can be used whether the software was developed by a first or second party. The case where future costs are discounted is also considered.     

核电厂控制系统软件回归测试的分析与研究

回归测试是软件测试中的一个非常重要的过程,在软件生命周期的任何阶段都可能存在回归测试,合理地选择回归测试方案,证明已正确修改软件,保证软件测试的效率和有效性,提高软件质量是非常必要的。     

On interfaces

The nature of interfaces is discussed. It is recommended that modern software approaches to interfaces (such as abstract data types) be extended to interfaces of all kinds. These interfaces can and should be developed at the level of abstraction appropriate to the interacting elements, rather than at the level of their lowest common denominator, which is frequently the case. It is proposed that for an interface to exist at any level of abstraction, there must be an operational framework that implements that level of abstraction and within which the interfacing elements interact. Four tasks required for the development of interfaces are described. The traditional classification of interfaces as hardware/software, software/software, and hardware/hardware is found wanting and a new partitioning is suggested—structural or interpretive interfaces, symbolic interfaces, and physical interfaces. Standards and scientific and engineering theories are shown to define levels of abstraction for general interfaces in much the same way that programming languages do for software interfaces. Implications for software engineering and concurrent engineering are explored.     

Exploring the Belief Systems of Software Development Professionals

It is commonly accepted that an individual's beliefs and actions are based on his or her assessment and perceptions of the world. In order to determine what practices an individual is likely to follow at any given time, it is necessary to understand the individual's behavioral intention in a given circumstance. From an Information Technology perspective, a software development professional's belief systems are potentially the basis for the adoption and implementation of new and innovative work practices and processes. In this article, we explore the belief systems of software development professionals in order to understand the beliefs underlying intention and practice, and we seek answers about how they adopt or reject new and innovative software development processes and practices. The results point out a strong influence of past experiences, personality types, and repeated behavior on current software development processes and practices in industrial settings.     

论大型软件开发

为何大型软件开发失败率高 ?当前软件工程理论是否存在一些缺陷 ?对大型软件的认识是否存在误区 ?结合作者的信息系统开发经验 ,旨在分析和研究软件工程的理论性问题 ,并提出一些观点和方法 ,探索开发大型软件的成功之道。     

A BASIC program for the numerical solution of the transient kinetics of complex biochemical models

A highly optimized software for the kinetic analysis of complex chemical models is presented. The program is applied to the analysis of a vectorial biochemical reaction, where many species are linked by multiple equilibria of any order. The reaction stimulates the Ca2(+)-transport-linked ATPase reaction taking place in a suspension of vesicular fragments of isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes, as described in many experimental reports. The model includes 12 reactants and intermediate chemical species, 14 kinetic constants, compartmentalization, and thermodynamic adjustment. The concentrations of all the model components, at any time, starting from a known initial condition, are calculated. The transient concentrations of the species are obtained by numerical integration of the appropriate differential equations, using an optimized version of the Runge-Kutta-Gill algorithm, with the aid of a Digital PDP11/23 computer and a standard BASIC-11 software, which could be fast and easily fitted to work with any microcomputer and/or alternative language or faster working compiled BASIC version. The errors of the calculations are evaluated.     

Simulating software development processes

One of the main factors affecting any product development schedule is rework. In the consumer product market, the risk of rework is often measured against the need to get to market quickly. This frequently happens in the software market as well; products are released with known bugs and then upgraded after user testing. Therefore, software development organizations may choose to limit the iterations of defect correction to meet schedules or control costs. The decision to release software after a certain point is a business decision, and there is little written about business decisions in any software-related literature, including the SEI's Capability Maturity Model. A quick review of software project management literature suggests that rework is implicit in software estimating techniques, but is not explicit. The amount of rework and the manner in which it is treated are very important factors in determining software schedules and cost     

Providing secure mobile access to information servers with temporary certificates

This paper presents a solution that compatibilizes user mobility and secure access to information servers by means of X.509 certificates with a short validity period. The common approach to compatibilizing user mobility and secure access is based on removable tokens that hold cryptographic information. The use of these techniques restricts user mobility in several ways. Firstly, when specific hardware is required, it must be available in any computer the user may employ to connect from. Secondly, using software that must be added to well-known client programs means that the user must circumscribe to those hosts where the software is installed or install it on his/her own. The solution we present here does not impose any constraints on hardware and, since it is based on the thin client paradigm, software requirements are minimal. The application of X.509 certificates permits the use of (de facto) standard software for accessing the information. Furthermore, since the system uses short term certificates it does not necessitate the user eliminating any traces left behind in the client program after its use. Finally, the token (actually, a diskette) can be used with practically any computer, as it contains all the software and data needed for user authentication, and is based on a thin client written in an architecture-neutral language like Java. The requirements on the computer the user is connecting from are minimal: having a floppy drive and a Java virtual machine. An implementation of the framework described here is in use to provide authorized access to internal servers at CICA.     

酸碱滴定中pH值的微机监测系统

该系统是以Visual C＋＋为开发工具，将分析化学中酸碱滴定实验通过计算机形象地描述出来。系统主要包括4部分内容：计算机模拟、联机试验、实验结果分析、实际应用举例。详细阐述了该系统软件的编制内容、关键技术、使用方法及开发过程。     

Security through Diversity: Leveraging Virtual Machine Technology

Biologists have long recognized the dangers of the lack of diversity or monocultures in biological systems. Recently, it has been noted that much of the fragility of our networked computing systems can be attributed to the lack of diversity or monoculture of our software systems. The problem is severe. Because it is virtually inevitable that software will ship with flaws, our software monoculture leaves systems open to large-scale attacks by knowledgeable adversaries. Inspired by the resilience of diverse biological systems, the authors developed the Genesis Software Development Toolchain. An innovative aspect of Genesis is the use of an application-level virtual machine technology that enables the application of diversity transforms at any point in the software toolchain. Using Genesis, they authors demonstrated that diversity, when judiciously applied, is a practical and effective defense against two widely used types of attacks—return-to-libc and code injection.     

面向对象的动态图编辑器的设计与实现

提出了一种面向对象的动态图编辑器,该动态图编辑器区别一般图编辑器的方面在于：可以根据用户的需要在任何时候动态地执行用户程序定义的方法;产生可序列化的图;编辑部分和显示部分既能合并使用也能分开使用;允许用户定义任意形状的结点和弧;具有处理无向图和有向图的双重功能。用户可以分别利用交互式编辑环境和图布局机制输入小型图和中、大型图。动态图编辑器体系结构建立在软件工程设计模式和面向对象设计思想的基础上,用ＪＡ－ＶＡ２实现。     

A Survey of Service Discovery Protocols in Multihop Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

An in-depth review of service discovery protocols (SDPs) in multihop mobile ad hoc networks analyzes SDP building blocks and determines SDP suitability based on architecture, mobility, and network size. Mobile ad hoc networks (manets) include a variety of devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and other relatively larger devices. These devices can move at high or low speeds or even remain stationary, entering and leaving the system when switched on or off. Such a variety of devices also offers a variety of services. A service is any tangible or intangible facility a device provides that can be useful for any other device. Services comprise those for software and hardware. A software service, for example, can be a simple file, such as an MP3 file, or a software implementation of an algorithm, such as converting one audio file format to another. A hardware service, for example, can be a printer that a mobile device can use wirelessly. To benefit from these services, a device must be able to both locate them in the network and invoke them. Service discovery protocols (SDPs) enable these capabilities.