The software product line engineering paradigm is amongst the widely used means for capturing and... more The software product line engineering paradigm is amongst the widely used means for capturing and handling the commonalities and variabilities of the many applications of a target domain. The large number of possible products and complex interactions between software product line features makes the effective testing of them a challenge. To conquer the time and space complexity involved with testing a product line, an intuitive approach is the reduction of the test space. In this paper, we propose an approach to reduce the product line test space. We introduce a goal-oriented approach for the selection of the most desirable features from the product line. Such an approach allows us to identify the features that are more important and need to be tested more comprehensively from the perspective of the domain stakeholders. The more important features and the configurations that contain them will be given priority over the less important configurations, hence providing a hybrid test case reduction and prioritization strategy for testing software product lines.
Feature M odels encapsulate functionalities and quality properties of a product family. The emplo... more Feature M odels encapsulate functionalities and quality properties of a product family. The employment of feature models for managing variability and commonality of large-scale product families raises an important question: on what basis should the features of a product family be selected for a target software application, which is going to be derived from the product family. Thus, the selection of the most suitable features for a specific application requires the understanding of its stakeholders' intentions and also the relationship between their intentions and the available software features. To address this important issue, we adopt a standard goal-oriented requirements engineering framework, i.e., the i* framework, for identifying stakeholders' intentions and propose an approach for explicitly mapping and bridging between the features of a product family and the goals and objectives of the stakeholders. We propose a novel approach to automatically preconfigure a given feature model based on the objectives of the target product stakeholders. Also, our approach is able to elucidate the rationale behind the selection of the most important features of a family for a target application.
The increasing need for flexible software development methodologies has led to a new approach cal... more The increasing need for flexible software development methodologies has led to a new approach called method engineering. Method engineering aims at constructing new methodologies, more flexible and better adaptable to the situation of every software development project. ...
Information systems are expected to satisfy increasingly ambitious requirements, while reducing t... more Information systems are expected to satisfy increasingly ambitious requirements, while reducing time-to-market has become a primary objective. This trend has necessitated the advent of development approaches that are better equipped and flexible enough to cope with modern challenges. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Situational Method Engineering (SME) are approaches addressing this requirement: MDA provides promising means for automating the software process, and revitalizes the role of modeling in software development; SME focuses on project-specific methodology construction, mainly through assembling reusable method fragments (process patterns) retrieved from a method base. We provide a set of high-level process patterns for model-driven development which have been derived from a study of six prominent MDAbased methodologies, and which form the basis for a proposed generic MDA Software Process (MDASP). These process patterns can promote SME by providing classes of common process components which can be used for assembling, tailoring, and extending MDA-based methodologies.
The emerging field of semantic web technologies promises new stimulus for Method Engineering. How... more The emerging field of semantic web technologies promises new stimulus for Method Engineering. However, since the underlying concepts of the semantic web have a long tradition in the knowledge engineering field, it is sometimes hard for method engineers to overlook the variety of ontology-enabled approaches to Method Engineering. In this paper we present an example of ontology application within the Method Engineering and its most popular approach assembly-based Method Engineering. Therefore, we propose an ontology-based approach to Method Engineering by adopting assemblybased approach and augmenting it with ontology concept.
Situational Method Engineering (SME) addresses the need for custom-built software development met... more Situational Method Engineering (SME) addresses the need for custom-built software development methodologies that are tailored to fit specific project situations. A process pattern is a description of a recurring development process fragment that can be used as a generic model or a building block for engineering development processes. Software development process patterns are extensively used in SME, mainly as process components assembled to form bespoke methodologies; however, the SME field itself has not been scrutinized as to the methodology development process fragments frequently encountered. Situational method engineering knowledge captured in the form of SME process patterns is not only useful for building and improving SME processes, but can also facilitate knowledge transfer among method engineers. We propose a set of SME process patterns obtained through studying existing method engineering approaches. The set of patterns is organized into a generic pattern-based framework for SME. The framework can be used for developing SME processes according to the specific requirements of method engineering projects; the resulting SME processes can then be enacted to yield custom-built, project-specific methodologies.
Model-Driven Development (MDD) has become a familiar software engineering term in recent years, t... more Model-Driven Development (MDD) has become a familiar software engineering term in recent years, thanks to the profound influence of the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). Yet MDD, like MDA itself, defines a general framework, and as such is a generic approach rather than a concrete development methodology. Methodology support for MDA has been rather slow in coming, yet even though several MDA-based methodologies have emerged, they have not been objectively analyzed yet. The need remains for a critical appraisal of these methodologies, mainly aimed at identifying their achievements, and the shortcomings that should be addressed. We provide a review of several prominent MDA-based methodologies, and present a criteria-based evaluation which highlights their strengths and weaknesses. The results can be used for assessing, comparing, selecting, and adapting MDA-based methodologies.
ABSTRACT Method Engineering (ME) is based on the notion that no two software development projects... more ABSTRACT Method Engineering (ME) is based on the notion that no two software development projects are identical, and hence, the same development process is never executed twice. The need therefore arises for custom-built software development methodologies that are ...
The software product line engineering paradigm is amongst the widely used means for capturing and... more The software product line engineering paradigm is amongst the widely used means for capturing and handling the commonalities and variabilities of the many applications of a target domain. The large number of possible products and complex interactions between software product line features makes the effective testing of them a challenge. To conquer the time and space complexity involved with testing a product line, an intuitive approach is the reduction of the test space. In this paper, we propose an approach to reduce the product line test space. We introduce a goal-oriented approach for the selection of the most desirable features from the product line. Such an approach allows us to identify the features that are more important and need to be tested more comprehensively from the perspective of the domain stakeholders. The more important features and the configurations that contain them will be given priority over the less important configurations, hence providing a hybrid test case reduction and prioritization strategy for testing software product lines.
Feature M odels encapsulate functionalities and quality properties of a product family. The emplo... more Feature M odels encapsulate functionalities and quality properties of a product family. The employment of feature models for managing variability and commonality of large-scale product families raises an important question: on what basis should the features of a product family be selected for a target software application, which is going to be derived from the product family. Thus, the selection of the most suitable features for a specific application requires the understanding of its stakeholders' intentions and also the relationship between their intentions and the available software features. To address this important issue, we adopt a standard goal-oriented requirements engineering framework, i.e., the i* framework, for identifying stakeholders' intentions and propose an approach for explicitly mapping and bridging between the features of a product family and the goals and objectives of the stakeholders. We propose a novel approach to automatically preconfigure a given feature model based on the objectives of the target product stakeholders. Also, our approach is able to elucidate the rationale behind the selection of the most important features of a family for a target application.
The increasing need for flexible software development methodologies has led to a new approach cal... more The increasing need for flexible software development methodologies has led to a new approach called method engineering. Method engineering aims at constructing new methodologies, more flexible and better adaptable to the situation of every software development project. ...
Information systems are expected to satisfy increasingly ambitious requirements, while reducing t... more Information systems are expected to satisfy increasingly ambitious requirements, while reducing time-to-market has become a primary objective. This trend has necessitated the advent of development approaches that are better equipped and flexible enough to cope with modern challenges. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Situational Method Engineering (SME) are approaches addressing this requirement: MDA provides promising means for automating the software process, and revitalizes the role of modeling in software development; SME focuses on project-specific methodology construction, mainly through assembling reusable method fragments (process patterns) retrieved from a method base. We provide a set of high-level process patterns for model-driven development which have been derived from a study of six prominent MDAbased methodologies, and which form the basis for a proposed generic MDA Software Process (MDASP). These process patterns can promote SME by providing classes of common process components which can be used for assembling, tailoring, and extending MDA-based methodologies.
The emerging field of semantic web technologies promises new stimulus for Method Engineering. How... more The emerging field of semantic web technologies promises new stimulus for Method Engineering. However, since the underlying concepts of the semantic web have a long tradition in the knowledge engineering field, it is sometimes hard for method engineers to overlook the variety of ontology-enabled approaches to Method Engineering. In this paper we present an example of ontology application within the Method Engineering and its most popular approach assembly-based Method Engineering. Therefore, we propose an ontology-based approach to Method Engineering by adopting assemblybased approach and augmenting it with ontology concept.
Situational Method Engineering (SME) addresses the need for custom-built software development met... more Situational Method Engineering (SME) addresses the need for custom-built software development methodologies that are tailored to fit specific project situations. A process pattern is a description of a recurring development process fragment that can be used as a generic model or a building block for engineering development processes. Software development process patterns are extensively used in SME, mainly as process components assembled to form bespoke methodologies; however, the SME field itself has not been scrutinized as to the methodology development process fragments frequently encountered. Situational method engineering knowledge captured in the form of SME process patterns is not only useful for building and improving SME processes, but can also facilitate knowledge transfer among method engineers. We propose a set of SME process patterns obtained through studying existing method engineering approaches. The set of patterns is organized into a generic pattern-based framework for SME. The framework can be used for developing SME processes according to the specific requirements of method engineering projects; the resulting SME processes can then be enacted to yield custom-built, project-specific methodologies.
Model-Driven Development (MDD) has become a familiar software engineering term in recent years, t... more Model-Driven Development (MDD) has become a familiar software engineering term in recent years, thanks to the profound influence of the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). Yet MDD, like MDA itself, defines a general framework, and as such is a generic approach rather than a concrete development methodology. Methodology support for MDA has been rather slow in coming, yet even though several MDA-based methodologies have emerged, they have not been objectively analyzed yet. The need remains for a critical appraisal of these methodologies, mainly aimed at identifying their achievements, and the shortcomings that should be addressed. We provide a review of several prominent MDA-based methodologies, and present a criteria-based evaluation which highlights their strengths and weaknesses. The results can be used for assessing, comparing, selecting, and adapting MDA-based methodologies.
ABSTRACT Method Engineering (ME) is based on the notion that no two software development projects... more ABSTRACT Method Engineering (ME) is based on the notion that no two software development projects are identical, and hence, the same development process is never executed twice. The need therefore arises for custom-built software development methodologies that are ...
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