An Overview of Firmware Engineering

Firmware engineering, in analogy to software engineering, covers the specification and design of microprograms, construction techniques, debugging, testing, verification, and maintenance. Here is a look at the current state of the art and coming trends.     

Guest Editors' Introduction: Global Software Development: How Far Have We Come?

Global software development efforts have increased in recent years, and such development seems to have become a business necessity for various reasons, including cost, availability of resources, and the need to locate development closer to customers. However, there's still much to learn about global software development before the discipline becomes mature. This special issue aims to assess the gap between the state of the art and the state of the practice. It presents five articles that cover various aspects of global software development, including knowledge management strategies, distributed software development, requirements engineering, distributed requirements, and managing offshore collaboration. A Point/Counterpoint department discusses whether global software development is indeed a business necessity.This article is part of a special issue on Global Software Development.     

软件工程数据挖掘研究进展

随着计算机软件的规模不断扩大,手工获取、开发和维护软件所需的信息越来越困难。数据挖掘技术可从软件工程数据中自动发现所需信息,加快软件开发进程。对软件工程数据挖掘的研究进展进行了综述。概述了软件工程数据挖掘的基本概念与技术挑战;详细评述了在软件工程各个阶段,数据挖掘技术所能发现的信息/知识,以及获取这些信息/知识的意义、难点、步骤和方法,重点介绍了数据预处理和数据表示方法;对软件工程数据挖掘研究的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Software engineering research for computer games: A systematic review

ContextCurrently, computer game development is one of the fastest growing industries in the worldwide economy. In addition to that, computer games are rapidly evolving in the sense that newer game versions arrive in a very short interval. Thus, software engineering techniques are needed for game development in order to achieve greater flexibility and maintainability, less cost and effort, better design, etc. In addition, games present several characteristics that differentiate their development from classical software development.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the state of the art on research concerning software engineering for computer games and discuss possible important areas for future research.MethodWe employed a standard methodology for systematic literature reviews using four well known digital libraries.ResultsSoftware engineering for computer games is a research domain that has doubled its research activity during the last 5 years. The dominant research topic has proven to be requirements engineering, while topics such as software verification and maintenance have been neglected up to now.ConclusionThe results of the study suggest that software engineering for computer games is a field that embraces many techniques and methods from conventional software engineering and adapts them so as to fit the specific requirements of game development. In addition to that, the study proposes the employment of more elaborate empirical methods, i.e. controlled experiments and case studies, in game software engineering research, which, have not been extensively used up to now.     

多粒度的面向对象软件估算模型的研究及应用

软件估算方法学是软件工程学科中重要的研究方向,也是软件成本和进度控制的重要手段.面向对象作为现今的主流软件开发方法,对其估算方法的研究成为当前的热点.到目前为止,现有的面向对象估算方法大多是功能点方法的变种,这些方法对于统一的估算体系研究不足且估算的误差较大.针对上述问题,从经典估算方法入手,提出了一种多粒度的面向对象软件估算模型,并对模型的4个层次作了详细的描述,然后利用最小二乘法回归分析探讨了规模与工作量的关系,最后对实验结果做出了评估.     

A pattern recognition approach for software engineering dataanalysis

In order to plan, control, and evaluate the software development process, one needs to collect and analyze data in a meaningful way. Classical techniques for such analysis are not always well suited to software engineering data. A pattern recognition approach for analyzing software engineering data, called optimized set reduction (OSR), that addresses many of the problems associated with the usual approaches is described. Methods are discussed for using the technique for prediction, risk management, and quality evaluation. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique for the particular application of software cost estimation     

A market-driven requirements engineering process: Results from an industrial process improvement programme

In market-driven software evolution, the objective 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 marketplace. 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 promising new techniques can be evaluated in the continuation of the improvement programme.     

面向产品设计的成本工程系统方法与技术的研究

企业的发展需要产品具有较强的市场竞争力，针对复杂技术产品成本的特点和研究现状，建立了产品的全生命周期成本信息模型，提出了支持产品设计的成本工程系统的总体框架，研究了成本工程系统中各子系统：成本建模、成本控制优化、成本分析子系统的关联模型；详细研究了工程系统中的关键技术及其解决的方法，开发了相应的软件，并在以液压挖掘机为实例的研究中得到成功验证。     

基于相似度的软件工程中软件成本估算问题研究

软件工程概念从1968年被提出以来,经历了近50年的发展,软件系统规模和复杂程度日益加大,然而从上个世纪70年代左右开始,软件工程领域出现大量软件项目进度延期、预算超支和质量缺陷为典型特征的软件危机.这体现出软件成本估算在软件工程开发过程的重要性.精准的软件成本估算是软件工程按时完成的保证.本文采用一种基于皮尔逊相关系数的相似度量方法,结合TOPSIS方法软件成本进行类比估算以获取与之最接近项目的项目作为参考进行软件成本估算.最后将该方法应用于Desharnais数据集进行实验,并和其他方法进行比较,实验结果表明,本文采用的基于相关系数的软件成本度量方法较已有的相似性度量方法准确度更好.     

Nonlinear Bayesian state estimation: A review of recent developments

Online estimation of the internal states is a perquisite for monitoring, control, and fault diagnosis of many engineering processes. A cost effective approach to monitor these variables in real time is to employ model-based state estimation techniques. Dynamic model-based state estimation is a rich and highly active area of research and many novel approaches have emerged over the last few years. In this paper, we review various recent developments in the area of nonlinear state estimators from a Bayesian perspective. In particular, we focus on the constrained state estimation (including systems modeled using differential-algebraic equations), the handling of multi-rate and delayed measurements and recent advances in model parameter estimation. Recent advances on the stability analysis of the estimation error dynamics are also briefly discussed. The review aims to provide an integrated view of important ideas, from the authors' perspective that have driven the research in this area in recent years.     

非基于软件复用的成本估算模型的复用改造模型及模型系数修正策略

作为软件成本控制管理的重要措施,软件开发成本的估算技术已经成为软件工程领域的一个重要课题。当前基于复用的软件开发正在成为软件工程的主流,但将软件复用考虑进成本估算的模型较少。提出一个基于软件复用的成本估算模型,并应用该模型对COCOMO模型进行复用改造,之后通过实例进行验证。给出了使用存储过程技术对模型参数进行修正的策略,以为各类基于复用的软件开发成本估算提供依据。     

Software effort estimation terminology: The tower of Babel

It is well documented that the software industry suffers from frequent cost overruns. A contributing factor is, we believe, the imprecise estimation terminology in use. A lack of clarity and precision in the use of estimation terms reduces the interpretability of estimation accuracy results, makes the communication of estimates difficult, and lowers the learning possibilities. This paper reports on a structured review of typical software effort estimation terminology in software engineering textbooks and software estimation research papers. The review provides evidence that the term ‘effort estimate’ is frequently used without sufficient clarification of its meaning, and that estimation accuracy is often evaluated without ensuring that the estimated and the actual effort are comparable. Guidelines are suggested on how to reduce this lack of clarity and precision in terminology.     

Mining textual requirements to assist architectural software design: a state of the art review

Modern Software Engineering (SE) is characterized by the use of several models that establish and show the different states a software product goes through, from its initial conception to its end, passing across its development, setup and maintenance among others. Each phase produces a set of deliverables following different documentation standards, but in many cases, natural language text is a key aspect in the elaboration of such documents. This work surveys the state of the art in the application of text mining techniques to architectural software design, starting from the role of text documents during development phases, specifically the kind of text documents that can be subsequently exploited to assist architects in the complex task of designing software. Intelligent text analysis techniques utilized in software engineering tasks across the software life-cycle are detailed in order to analyze works focused on automatically bridging the gap between requirements and software architectures.     

On the use of Bayesian belief networks for the prediction of software productivity

In spite of numerous methods proposed, software cost estimation remains an open issue and in most situations expert judgment is still being used. In this paper, we propose the use of Bayesian belief networks (BBNs), already applied in other software engineering areas, to support expert judgment in software cost estimation. We briefly present BBNs and their advantages for expert opinion support and we propose their use for productivity estimation. We illustrate our approach by giving two examples, one based on the COCOMO81 cost factors and a second one, dealing with productivity in ERP system localization.     

Acquiring COTS software selection requirements

Commercial off the shelf software can save development time and money if you can find a package that meets your customer's needs. The authors propose a model for matching COTS product features with user requirements. To support requirements acquisition for selecting commercial off the shelf products, we propose a method we used recently for selecting a complex COTS software system that had to comply with over 130 customer requirements. The lessons we learned from that experience refined our design of PORE (procurement oriented requirements engineering), a template based method for requirements acquisition. We report 11 of these lessons, with particular focus on the typical problems that arose and solutions to avoid them in the future. These solutions, we believe, extend state of the art requirements acquisition techniques to the component based software engineering process     

Knowledge-based risk assessment and cost estimation

A knowledge-based method for software project risk assessment and cost estimation has been implemented on multiple platforms. As an extension to the Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO), it aids in project planning by identifying, categorizing, quantifying and prioritizing project risks. It also detects cost estimate input anomalies and provides risk control advice in addition to conventional COCOMO cost and schedule calculation.The method has been developed in conjunction with a system dynamics model of the software development process, and serves as an intelligent front end to the simulation model. It extends previous research in the knowledge-based cost estimation domain by focusing on risk assessment, incorporating substantially more rules, going beyond standard COCOMO, performing quantitative validation, providing a user-friendly interface, and integrating it with a dynamic simulation model.Results of the validation are promising, and the method is being used at Litton Data Systems and other industrial environments. It will be undergoing further enhancement as part of an integrated capability for software engineering to assist in system acquisition, project planning and risk management.     

Managing uncertainty in project portfolio cost estimation

Although typically a software development organisation is involved in more than one project simultaneously, the available tools in the area of software cost estimation deal mostly with single software projects. In order to calculate the possible cost of the entire project portfolio, one must combine the single project estimates taking into account the uncertainty involved. In this paper, statistical simulation techniques are used to calculate confidence intervals for the effort needed for a project portfolio. The overall approach is illustrated through the adaptation of the analogy-based method for software cost estimation to cover multiple projects.     

A hierarchical cost estimation tool

The estimation of the manufacturing cost of a part in all phases of the design stage is crucial to concurrent engineering. To better estimate the cost for a product, data must be available from both engineering systems and business systems. This paper presents a cost estimation system being developed to support design time cost estimation using the Federated Intelligent Product EnviRonment (FIPER), which is being developed as part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The FIPER research team is developing an architecture that interconnects design and analysis software tools in a peer level architecture to support multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO), design for six sigma (DFSS) and robust design.     

一个集成的软件可靠性工程环境

针对软件可靠性工程实施中发现的核心问题,本文介绍了我们在软件可靠性关键技术上取得的突破,以及以此为支撑的集成环境SREE。该系统依托Eclipse,支持软件可靠性工程的关键活动：使用模型生成和构建、软件可靠性测试、软件可靠性评估和预测以及软件开发过程中可靠性的跟踪分析等。     

关注分离问题研究综述

数十年以来,关注分离问题一直是软件工程的核心问题之一,关注分离是将软件分解成可管理、可理解的部分并将之组织起来的主要动力。本文综合了现有的关注分离的研完工作,分析了对于关注这一个概念的两类观点,并从问题求解的角度给出了关注以及关注分离的定义。论述了在软件开发周期各个阶段从关注分离角度需要考虑的问题、策略和当前的研完热点。